Mother’s Got A Dot Com

Can anyone imagine what it must be like to be held captive in the jungle for 6 years? Ingrid Bétancourt knows only too well. Seeing her reunited with her family yesterday was amazing! She was held in chains for three years, tortured and abused, but now she’s free!

What that word must mean after such an ordeal… Welcome home, Ingrid!

See the little wading brat in my heading? She’ll be starting school in August. They start when they’re 6 in this country, and she’s started her countdown. 45 days now…

Mum’s started thinking about kitting her out. They all get their first special backpack for free - courtesy of the “Safe Traffic” organization, orange with reflecting trimmings (It’s dark here in the winter - this is to make the little kites more visible), so that’s taken care of. I’ve got her a brand new pink pencil case, with everything in it, and also some cheap pens I found, with pink tassels on them. They produced one happy little girl… Now, we’ll go after some nice outfits. I’ll try to ease her out of her pink stage, but I have a feeling my little princess’ll be all in pink for some time yet.

The teachers all recognized me on the getting-to-know-each-other-day, of course - I’ve had two birth kids in that school, and two step-kids as well. I told them there was one more where this one came from. At least the teachers will know I’m not the grandmother…

We’ve got this great big recurring bill, and it’s not even ours. Hubbys old partner, with whom he parted ways 4 years ago, has neglected to remove hubbys name from his company registries, and has now “forgotten” to submit his company records to the Norwegian revenue whatnot institution. A  memory lapse that means a (BIG) fine, and the guy hasn’t paid it. Hubbys name came up as shareholder and Board member (he’s neither), and the bill for the unpaid fine was sent to us.

The first three times, hubby made contact with the guy, and was assured that it was being taken care of. The last time, he said it HAD BEEN taken care of. Yesterday came a very official looking letter, telling us that the Revenue institution in question was going to get the money regardless, and that they were coming for our assets. Grr grr grr!!!

Again, the %¤#”?”# fellow says it’s no problem, but we can’t risk this, so WE have to take all the rounds with all the #%&¤#” official telephones complete with being put on hold for hours, telling your life story over and over, and we may not even get these people to understand what we’re saying. They’ve got RULES, you know… And RULES have to be followed. I could strangle the guy.

I’ve mentioned our anniversary in my last couple of posts - for your information, it’s been 8 years - 8 years of happiness. We have our ups and downs, but underneath it all is our love for each other, that we celebrated 8 years ago by getting married, and that we try to celebrate every day.

We both wear our wedding rings as a token of that love. Our rings are very simple, gold bands, and quite narrow. We felt we didn’t want anything flash, both of us being on the “second time around”.

When I look at the lovely rings at Wedding Band-Ring.com, I’m wondering whether it’s time to renew our vows soon… And perhaps seal them with a couple of those gorgeous bands.
They’re quite original compared to what you see in this country, and I love them all. My favourite, though, is this one, with the celtic inspired theme.

I’m quite partial to the mixing of different colors of gold - they have a beautiful tri-color one as well, with rose, yellow and white gold. I’m not going to describe them all here - if you’re in wedding mode, have a look for yourself!

In fact, they’re so beautiful that they can be worn whether you’re married or not - as a couple, they have that symbolic value, but as single rings, they’re just - rings - and lovely rings at that!

We’ll be keeping ours as they are, I think. They mean the world to us both. If I ever need that special gift for my love though, I’ll be getting back to these beauties…

It was the experience of a lifetime. This 74 year-old artist made us laugh, he made us cry - and what a charming, dignified man…
He did all his great hits from the 80es, opening the show with “Dance me to the end of Love”. He did quite a few older ones too - catering to elderly fans (of whom there were many!) and also some newer songs. When the intro to “I’m your man” sounded over the arena, I cried… I’ve loved that song from when I first heard it - wishing someone had written those lyrics for me…

I don’t know what a Cohen concert is like anywhere else, but he has such a large and diverse audience in this country, and his appreciation shows. His friendship with the late Norwegian writer Axel Jensen and his wife Marianne (to whom the song “So long, Marianne” is written) has also brought him to Norway on several occasions, and taught him to love this country.
Some 12000 spectators gave that love right back to him, and the concert was… riveting.

I thought the show would have been over in just under 2 hours - no way. He went on stage at 8pm, and was still doing encores when we had to leave at 11.10 to catch the last train home.

So - Thank you, Mr. Cohen - your “golden voice” made our anniversary a truly memorable one, and made cousin Lindas send-off back to the States a night to remember for her too. As for #4 Brat (14) who came along - you’ve got yourself a brand new fan!

it’s our anniversary today, and we’re off to Oslo to see/hear Leonard Cohen in one of our largest sports arenas… Call me old fashioned, but I’m really looking forward to it!

A big thank you to my advertisers is once again in order… I hope they got their E-credits worth!

Happy Alone
Crazy Working Mom
Your Fun Family
Mommys Little Corner
Daisy The Curly Cat
Lifes Little Wonders
The Den Of Iniquity

My 6 bright little kidlets - one of whom is getting ready to leave the nest. This was taken 18 months ago - not very bright of me to not organize it so that they can all be in one photo more often! Must see to that before # 1 Brat leaves, so that we have some nice pics to brighten our days…

More on the PhotoHunt!

Someone’s found in this old Dymo labels making device… Wonderful little gadget; now we’ve got labels on everything. My little schoolgirl to be is in 7th heaven, and puts her name on everything. Shelves, drawers - everything is labeled. I have to check my back regularly - I may be sporting such captions as: “kiss me!” or “hurricane Stine”… Our fridge says: “leave a message with me, and I’ll get back to you”, and the liquor cabinet tells us: “open only in emergencies”.

They’re having fun - I can only hope that the glue is getting old enough for the labels to fall off eventually…

# 5 Brat is getting a playhouse… She doesn’t know it yet, but we’ve been given a dainty little house by some friends of ours. Well - it will be dainty when I’m finished with it. My little pink girl in her little pink house - what a treat for her! (I somehow know it’ll be pink…)

It’s all made of wood, and it’s got a little porch, a little door and two windows. (This is where I was going to slip in something about vinyl siding, but I won’t bother…) I know my little Brat will be thrilled to bits, and I’ll probably have to find some miniature furniture for her new miniature quarters! Actually - I’m about as excited as I know she will be!