Attentionwhoring 101

Not as bad at it sounds, it's just a pretty recent picture of me.


Notice the very useful frog-on-a-stick and my lovely Sackboy. Both marvellous purchases. :)

Goodnight, sweet Eris

Goodnight, sweet princess. Now you and Diana can play together forever.

A lovely day...

Hello again and happy new year! It's been ages since I last blogged, but now I finally have something that I want to write about.

This Christmas I got something I've been wanting for years. I opened the present from my man and it was a gift certificate for a treatment at Jessheim Spa! (He's the best, right?)

Well, today it was time for my appointment, so I jumped on the bus from home to Jessheim a bit before one and arrived at the spa at a quarter past one. My appointment wasn't until two so I started my spoiling by "checking in", getting my soft, white bundle that consisted of a soft robe, a pair of cute comfy slippers and a fluffy towel. I wandered into the dressingrooms and even they were comfy. The lockers were spacious and there weren't any of those classic large showers built to fit ten. There was single-person shower stalls with proper showers. After I had changed into my bathing suit I slipped on the robe and slippers and walked, allready smiling, back in to the main area of the spa. There I was shown around by a nice Swedish girl who told me how to operate the bubbles in the hot tub and let me know that I was welcome to help myself to fruit and iced water before my treatment. Still smiling, I poured myself a glass of icewater with lemon and munched a couple of grapes before I hung up my robe and slipped into the hot bubbly goodness.

Twenty glourious minutes later I went to change back to my underwear, slip on the lovely robe again and wait for my massage. "My" masseuse was a nice, chatty girl who asked a lot of questions to make sure I was comfortable at all times. She started with my back and shoulders, then went on to my legs, my arms and rounded it off with another round on my neck. I must admit that it was rather painfull at times when she was doing my shoulders, but considering my level of tenseness it could only be expected. And besides the rest was so lovely that I forgot about it. It took me a while to be able to relax completely, not to mention getting used to having a strange girl kneading my bum, but once I got over that I really really enjoyed it.

After my massage was over and I had been served another glass of lemonflavoured icewater I changed back into my bathing suit, complete with slippers and robe, and went back into the main area. First I went into "The Lagune" (the spa's relaxation area) and laid back on a bed-ish thing with soft pillows in there to read a magazine before I ordered a glass of red wine and slipped, yet again, in to the hot tub. After another half-an-hour I suddenly realised that my mum was probably waiting for me outside so I took a quick shower in the Tropical Rain Shower (basically a huge shower head embedded in the ceiling giving the impression of warm summer rain) and went to change again. I reluctantly gave up the robe and slippers, paid for my wine and went outside with a smile on my face.

Now I'm sitting in my couch, still comfortably limp, happy and very much in love with my man. I do really recommend a day at the spa to anyone needing to relax, loose some tension or just getting spoiled for a while. Also a wonderful gift for anyone you care for. Doesn't have to be a girlfriend, I'm pretty sure mums, sisters and even boyfriends will appreciate it. Maybe not so much for manly-man dads though.

Pictures: Borrowed from Jessheim Spa's homepage.

Ode to the West Wind

ODE TO THE WEST WIND

O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,

Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O Thou,

Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,

Each like a corpse within its grave, until

Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill

(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)

With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;

Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

~Percy Bysshe Shelly (1819)

Survival

The title of this post is as you know "Survival". But it's not survival in the middle of the Arctic or anything like that. It's the survival of the first week of school.

As I've mentioned in the previous post I got accepted to Hedmark University College, Language and Culture studies. Well, last Monday, the 16th of August, was the start of term and I showed up happy, eager and absolutely terrified. The first day was pleasant, even if it was slightly confusing due to all the information I was supposed to absorb. The rest of the week has been interesting, scary and a little overwhelming.

On tuesday we started with the first class in the language bit of the studies (Tuesday and Thursday's Language days), and I really enjoyed it. I had a little trouble telling all the terms and such apart, but my teacher is an engaging man who's very good at what he does, so I think I'll get the hang of it after a while.

Wedensday was the start of Litterature part (Monday and Wedensday's litterature days). This also seemed like a very interesting subject and I can't wait to delve deeper into it. Especially since I've never been much of a fan of Norwegian litterature and so I'm hoping that this year will give me a new understanding and love for both the Norwegian language and our many writers.

Yesterday, on Friday, I had a mandatory course in academic writing and how to use and refer to various sources given by one of the college's librarians. Usually, though, Friday is a day when we can study at home.

Right now I'm sitting on my mother-in-law's veranda just relaxing before a new week that starts when I have to get up at 05:45am on Monday.

New things

This post is being written on my new gadget. It's a Samsung N210 mini laptop. I bought it yesterday after getting a loan for it from the granny-bank. I've got a downpayment plan going and within three months it will be mine instead of my gran's. I've been thinking about getting one of these for over a year now, but suddenly on Friday it became a necessity since I was accepted to Hedmark University College to their Language and Culture studies. The pretty little laptop will be very handy when it comes to notes and such because, for one, I'm horrible when it comes to organizing papers and second with the laptop I can't draw on my notes which is another of my bad habits. I've also decided that I'm gonna remove everything on the laptop that I don't need for school. No games or anything to tempt me away from my studies. Oh my, I'm going to have to learn how to be organized and scheduled now. (Rob, if you're reading this you promised me a lightning course in being organized.)

But anyway, things are happening after a long wait and I'm very happy (and very scared) about it. I'm really looking forward to doing something constructive with my time and finally be out of what I've been calling my "storage box" which is the vacuum I've been lounging around in for soon-to-be three years.

Veggie patch update

I feel that the time is right for a little update on my vegetable patch now that I've got all the "support systems" and "climbing aids" in place and the plants are growing nicely. My pumpkin's blooming and the cucumbers, tomatoes and garden peas are budding.

Here you see my little patch of heaven. The picture's taken today after a night and a day of massive rain and everything's got that clean, beautiful shade of bright green the raid always brings midsummer.


My poor garden peas were falling over and needed a bit of help and something to hold on to, so I gathered my tools and set to work. I have a sweet spot for things homemade and a little rough around the edges so there was never any doubt about the style of the trellis. Reclaiming materials and using what my garden gives me is also something I love and the materials used for this ended up being the trunk from two small trees we took down earlier this summer for the side poles, an old 1x1inch thin beam from the shed as the top support, a "pretty" peach coloured skirt board (you can only see the unpainted side of the board on the picture) as the bottom support and for the bit that the peas were actually going to climb on I used various branches that needed to be cut off some of our garden trees (rowan, birch, apple, pussy willow and elder) and the rest I gathered from our "garden dump" were we've thrown a lot of twigs, trees and branches that only lies there to rot. It's nice that it can be used instead of just waste away. And I'm pretty happy about the result, looks good and it's homemade.


Here you have my five cucumber plants, they've just started budding slightly and the little tentacles has only recently poked out into the sun reaching for something grab a hold of. I decided on letting them grow upwards instead of going all creepy crawly on the ground because, firstly, I sort of think it's better once the cucumbers come that it's not lying on the ground, but rather hangs freely. Secondly, my patch isn't that big and this way they won't require that much space. I found the materials for the support for these at "the dump" as well and I just used regular cotton string to tie the simple triangular construction together.
Next to the cucumbers you can see a few of my tomato plants. I've only got nine left now since I gave away half of the plants I originally had, but I figured that nine plants will be more than enough for my small household. The sticks that support the tomatoes are bought though. Yes, I am a little ashamed about that, but I just couldn't be bothered looking for nine straight sticks that day and I found a packet of sticks for just under


I had to include a close up of my pumpkin plantl since I think it's so much fun that it's blooming and several more buds are about to unfold as well. I really hope I'll get a decent sized pumpkin in October so I have something to carve for Halloween and my birthday.


I have learned to appreciate the rain this summer after realising how much I have to water the patch to get the equivalent of one night of proper rain.

Have a great summer and enjoy the sun! I know I will!