life, week 24

Monday afternoon happenings: me wearing sunglasses on top of my regular glasses, Sara pretending to smile, and the season's first al fresco dinner. Not pictured: a massive craving for sweets.

6 pm basement livingroom sunlight

Week 24 (or is it 25?) + Sara with her "scary" eyes

9 pm basement livingroom sunlight

TV dinner for the win: grilled sirloin of pork in a spicy ginger garlic sauce, peaches and couscous

rhododendron galore on a rainy day

What happened to your sandwich, Sara?
I poked it.

A sweet little gift from a student who finished her maths midterm. Just the kind of encouragement I need to keep my spirits up whilst watching the rest of the midterm writing students.

The clouds look like a jigsaw puzzle, mamma!

Attack by the scary seal/whale/leopard! (Another photo of her face paint here.)

Just finished grading the pile of 8th grade Norwegian midterms. Enjoying a celebratory ice cream in the 8:30 pm sun under the plum tree.

The weather is gorgeous, but I'm too tired to do anything else than lie on the sofa. Hubby is working late, and not yet toddler bed time. Bath time to the rescue! This pregnant full-time working mamma is really looking forward to the summer vacation. Just seven work days left until school is out!

The end of bath time

They are having a sleep over, mamma.

Home bound. Bare feet.
It tickles, mamma!

The last working weekend in a long, long while - only 20 more 8th grade midterms left to grade.

but first coffee

We have finally started decorating the walls.

Curtains! Also, so bright at 10:30 pm!

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Week 24: June 8-14

Sunday happenings

Current state of our living room

- my mother-in-law is sewing curtains for the big living room window - lucky us!
- Sølve and Sara are cleaning the exterior of our house - we bought paint for it yesterday; granite grey (granitt fra Butinox) - I hope it's a good choice
- I'm trying to grade 8th grade English midterms - really struggling with my focus!
- just had a delicious berliner with vanilla custard from the local bakery
- drinking my second cup of coffee
- making plans for all the things I will do around the house when my summer vacation starts
- making a mental note to remember to make a dinner plan for the upcoming week
- listening to Sara singing and talking to her pappa outside
- learning the difference between lay and lie, and how to conjugate the two - tricky!
- planning to have a slice of the fresh fyrstekake (kind of an almond cake) after I'm done grading three more papers

life, week 23

"There is no room for baby here, mamma. This is my window. You have to build a new window for him."



June 2nd: 7 C, pouring rain, stormy winds. Have anyone seen summer?

I wish I was more patient and less grumpy when bedtime takes forever. 

sommer kommer

In bed before 9: 30 pm. Total bliss!

How to get through a whole day of watching 8th graders work on their maths midterm: get sweets delivered from the best colleague M plus seeing the light in the dark tunnel that is Norwegian sidemål midterm grading.

low ambitions Friday tacos

First cup at 3 pm. What was I thinking?!

"reading"

Living room status Saturday June 6, 9 pm

No repeat of yesterday - first cup at 0750 am

We love our weekend brunch rituals. She always asks for egg and bacon.

weekend working - soon coming to an end // my home office

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Week 23: June 1-7

things I like lately

Åsly, summer 2014 // Kodak Portra 160, Canon EOS 500N

- this and this new to me blogs
- this home (love the plywood furniture)
- Taza's guide to urban living
- the old orchid in our bathroom is blooming yet again
- reading Astrid Lindgren's Lotta books for Sara
- the first white clovers of the season
- using Kahoot in classes - students love it
- first outdoor dinner of the season (finally)
- the fact that there is just seven work days left until school is out and my summer vacation starts
- eating an ice cream under the plum tree in our garden in the evening sun
- Ingvild has beautiful new layout on her website and blogg
- we have been eating well this week thanks to this week's dinner plan
- Sara's name suggestions for her little brother
- finishing yet another pile of midterms - just one pile left

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Things I don't like lately

- lots of work - including evening work - when I'm super tired
- the fact that I still haven't worn sandals yet this season

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Answers to questions in the comment section:

AlittaM asked on this post: Does Sara eat your same food?

No, there is a lot of what we eat that she doesn't eat, that she doesn't even want to try. She is quite picky at times. I make sure there is at least one thing she likes for dinner, even if it's just pasta or rice. If she doesn't eat very much for dinner, she'll eat again for supper.

June 11, 2006-2015 // 8 years of blogging!

2006: a mountain cornflower (knoppurt på norsk) min our Bergen garden

2007: Title and caption written on Flickr: The things he enjoys. Read books and drink beer - in the sun. Hmmm. I wonder why he is touching his nose... // Also: the day I started this blog. Here is the first post, if you are interested.

2008: Title and caption written on Flickr: onsdag 11. juni | 163/366 | I did my accounts today. I almost died. We had taco while watching tv. My hands got cold while biking. Where did the warmth go?

2009: Caption written on Flickr: I'm working on a text thingy that is a bit hard to get right, so I thought I'd just stop by and say hei. Hei! How are you? What are you doing?

2010: My aunts and cousins were visiting Bergen and they stayed at Hotel Norge. This was the view from their room.

2011: our Bergen garden

2012: Sara, 32 weeks old

2013: garden playtime with Sara

2014: First: substitute teaching / hiking in a thunderstorm with 60 screaming 8 year olds. Then: a flat car tire. And then: day 2/27 of #Astridsdailyworkout (a short run with the view above), Kinfolk magazine in the mailbox and a job offer in Stavanger.

2015: Picked up this self-proclaimed seal/whale/leopard in kindergarten this afternoon. Apparently it is very scary.

my home office

It has been a while since I had anything to contribute with in NIB's monthly challenge, naturally. Now, finally I do. The theme of the challenge this month is home office, so here you go; my little office spot beneath the staircase in the basement. 

The desk is a kitchen countertop from IKEA (which is nearly 2 m, I think) supported by Hilver legs in either end and an Alex chest of drawers in the middle. The shelves to the left are Galant.

Old apple crates from Åsly are now book shelves for my media studies books and Sølve's economy studies books. No room for my pedagogics studies books though; need to keep them somewhere else. Print by Sandra Juto. 

The cabinets on the wall are from IKEA's Metod kitchen series. By the way, there is no special styling for the photos here! This is a home office in use - grading 8th grade Norwegian midterms.

Sometimes this little reader (mostly disturber) joins me under the stairs.

As a (fresh) teacher (and until recently, part time student) I do quite a bit of work at home, in the afternoons and weekends. I'm super happy about how this little workspace tired out.

what's for dinner, week 24

An August dinner memory from our old apartment in Bergen // Kodak Portra 160, Canon EOS 500N

So, after about a year of hardly no dinner planning, I want to slowly get back to it - especially for weekdays. Here is an attempt of a plan for this week's dinners, mostly based on what's in our fridge, freezer and cabinets:

Monday: First course: Fish & Crisp with leftover homemade coleslaw (cabbage, carrot, green apple, celery and dressing made of sour cream, creme fraiche, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper - I love fresh coriander in the slaw, but we didn't have any). Second course: an omelette made with leftovers from the weekend; sausage, bacon and baked potato

Tuesday: couscous salad with grilled sirloin of pork (grilled on Sunday when Sølve grilled the Sunday dinner - yay for planning ahead!) and vegetables from the fridge (tomato, red onion, green bell pepper and romano lettuce)

Wednesday: baked salmon with seafood and fish spice mix and apple avocado salad

Thursday: stir fry with steak (not quite sure which cut; it's from the freezer), cabbage, carrot, plus possibly some other vegetables that I will buy during the week, and a spicy soya sauce dressing from the Trines mat cookbook

Friday: Sølve is eating out with his colleagues, so I plan to have frozen pizza - luckily the homemade kind

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PS: my pantry essentials | thoughts on dinner planning and grocery shopping

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What are you planning to have for dinner this week?

Sunday plans

August 2014, the last month in our Bergen apartment // Kodak Portra 160, Canon EOS 500N

- mail goal today: grade a bunch of 8th grade Norwegian midterms
- tidy my home office for a few photos to submit to this little home office challenge
- have egg, bacon and Sølve's homemade bread rolls for brunch
- drink lots of carbonated water
- plan dinners for the coming week + possibly share the plans here (I miss my regular dinner planning)
- be on kitchen duty whilst Sara and Sølve work outside - I think the plan is to clean the house (we are painting it later this month)
- thaw cardamom buns and have them for dessert with whipped cream
- get Sara's things ready for kindergarten tomorrow
- go to bed before 10 pm (I have been SO tired this week)
- water our house plants