Happiness.......

This one's a bit off topic, and I apologise for it, but it sort of ties in.

For those of you who don't know us very well, Ned, our son, is dairy and soya intolerant. He was diagnosed when he was 10 months old, and at first it was a steep learning curve for us, but then a load of internet research, a dash of common sense, a pinch of my mum's wisdom and a Swedish company called Oatly, it got easier.

Oatly make oat milk, which Ned could have (this isn't the time or place to go into it all; I'll save that for a special occasion!), and it meant that I could substitute this, along with a sunflower oil based spread, into baking and cooking (my other, other life). 

I discovered through the the Oatly website that they don't just make oat milk. Oh no, they make vanilla sauce (sort of custard), cream for coffee, chocolate oat milk, yogurt, and ice cream.  But hardly any of that is sold in Devon, if in the UK at all.

So imagine our complete and utter joy at finding one of the local supermarkets here sells chocolate milk, and the vanilla sauce.  One happy little boy.

Then imagine that you find the ice cream, bear in mind that Ned normally has sorbet or an ice lolly, and imagine that you find a Norwegian version of chocolate monster crackling topping that is also dairy free (although I shudder to think what it does contain!)

This is what you get.......

One extremely happy little boy.

Now if they only made cheese........

Banker på døren.....

It's 7.45 in the morning and I'm tucking into my healthy commuter breakfast of a Kit Kat en route to Birmingham. Whilst the other commuters are clutching large coffee cups and eating healthy nutritious snacks containing some kind of super fruit or nutritious fibre nut combo, The semi melted Kit Kat has strangely hit the spot, albeit under much disgust from the adjacent passenger (the super fruit consumer).

One of things I often do on this journey (aside from eating melted chocolate products for breakfast) is attempt to read the Norwegian newspapers. There's a very handy app which has norwegian radio stations and papers all for free. 

Partaking in this on the train has 2 benefits;

1. You can concentrate because it's quiet (mostly, with the exception of the early morning enthusiastic talkers, who are sat right next to each other ! YOU DO NOT NEED TO SHOUT TO EACH OTHER or the yes it's Caroline and I'm on the train.... Well get this if you're on the train and on your phone, it works by radio wave type things And isn't connected to the person you are talking to by a piece of string and a yogurt pot. Caroline in the seat behind take note ....I will hand her the link to the blog when I get out)

2. It makes the person sat next to you think you are foreign or intellectual or both....(I am neither) but it does take the heat of the fact you have just woken up, have a creased face and are eating chocolate for breakfast.

Anyway, the point is ....as usual there is a point ....is ....that it's a good time to try and learn a bit of norwegian. Now, papers are good because they come with pictures. So like Ned, who is currently learning the life of Biff, Kipper and Chip and their adventures of flipping pancakes or going to the zoo by simple words and then looking at the pictures, I am currently doing the same; only the part of Kipper is played by Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton is rocking Biff and I think the Norwegians are as scathing of him as the Brits and sensible Americans ( or the sake of alienating the American reader I'll resist the temptation to ask the question - can those 2 words be put together ....) . ( oh did I? ....well I didn't mean to ;) )

So I'm getting the gist of the story. Kipper is basically doing well despite being a bigoted racist nut job and Biff is holding the centre ground and challenging the fact that Kipper knows what the hell he is talking about. As far as I can work out no one has yet been to the zoo and the pancakes aren't good....

So I read a post blog yesterday by a Canadian expat called Jill which hit the nail on the head regarding our Norwegian communication skills which referred to having the vocabulary and communication skills of a toddler when speaking in Norwegian....and to be honest despite almost 4 years of on off learning it's not progressed well (refer back to the bag / sausage incident last summer).

In true toddler form I'm currently reading the kids Rødhette og Ulven, which of course is the tale of Red Riding Hood. 

Whilst I have failed endlessly to try and communicate with the builders, plumber, and electricians in Norwegian because their English is always so good (despite them saying otherwise!) I did manage to at least make reference to døren as in banker på døren (knock on the door) as the guys have done a beautiful job being able to reuse some of the original old doors I found in the barn for the new openings into the bedrooms and ensuite. They have been set into new door frames and reworked into new doorsets by a local factory in the village who undertake bespoke joinery work.

Now if you'll excuse me about read and see if Super Tuesday is similar to shrove Tuesday and what type of pancake Kipper has rustled up. 

Moving forward

So last weekend we got away for a planned quick break without the children under the guise of  coming to check on the building works - of course we also planned some fun things to do!

However, before some sneaky skiing,  there was the slight issue of putting up curtain poles, hanging the curtains and generally making the kids rooms feel a bit more homely and less like a shoe making workshop before our next family trip at Easter. (For those who join us from new, the  2 main rooms of the upper floor of the house, we think, were solely (pardon the pun) used for making shoes and weaving work and for drying leather and dyed fabric. This is due to the fact that all of the paraphernalia from 2 looms, drying racks, vices, work benches etc were still all in place prior to us subdividing one of the spaces into a more manageable size!)

Our flight was delayed and we were an hour late arriving in Trondheim, so we stumbled to the hotel and fell into bed - just remembering to set the alarm.

A leisurely shower, to make the most of the hotel facilities as we don't have running water at the house, a quick breakfast, hire car collected and we were off to our second home in Norway - IKEA.

IKEA is so much better without children, although I (Kath) was suffering from a distinct lack of caffeine, so was a little bit grumpy. Bathroom bits, laundry room bits and 12 curtains poles later; a very heavily laden down hire car hit the road.

The day was beautiful - snow covered trees, frozen icicles at the side of the road, snow covered rivers and this sort of blue light, it was lovely to be coming back without the kids.  Although just to make sure we didn't miss them too much I did occasionally ask 'Are we nearly there yet?', 'Can I have a snack?' and other gems our kids say. It was the same weekend last year when Jim and his dad arrived into the middle of a huge arctic storm which brought excessive snowfall, closed roads (almost unheard over here and resulted in being rescued from the road outside the house by a friendly neighbour - who is now our plumber - takk Kjetil!)

We arrived at the house to discover 2 of the building team just packing up, Mads and Einar, and insulation carefully packed into the kitchen & bathroom windows. Prior to travelling Jim had emailed Magnus to see how the work was coming on and despite an answer still had no idea of what we expected to find.....(the message got slightly lost in translation!) When we arrived to see the builders packing up, Jim asked if they had finished for the day and they happily replied "no we are finished!" which was quickly then followed by the ultimate question! "Have we got water?" ........".yes " came the reply, "you just turn it on here!"

Well to say we were both happy was understatement of the year and even better still, not only did we have running water but also a fully plumbed in kitchen and finished (bar the accessories) bathroom! 

I don't think we stopped smiling! I (Kath - Lol) very nearly kissed them both.  So we have a boiler, hot and cold running water, kitchen and bathroom sinks plumbed in, a flushing loo and a shower! Those who have followed (well, put up with) our freezing barn pooing experiences will now be delighted that we no longer have to endure sub zero backdrafts and can (like normal people) enjoy a warm seat.......ah bliss... (although I think Jim will secretly miss it and the kids never disturb you when you are in the barn).

Despite ensuring that we skied saturday afternoon finally enjoying our local ski slopes (just 2 km away) we managed to clean out the kids rooms, hang the curtains and poles, lampshades as well as hang the curtains and blinds down stairs, assemble a coffee table, kitchen unit and utility room sink......phew....its beginning to feel like a house and not a hut at last.

So here are some pictures taken inside of the bathroom (not great photos but at least show some progress!)

...........vi snakkes!........

Stick man.....

Best job ever?

Driving along the snowy road to our house, we noticed flashing lights up ahead so we slowed down, not really being sure what they were for and given that Norway has quite strict (and expensive) traffic laws we erred on the side of caution.

However, we hadn't committed some expensive traffic violation it was just the man who knocks snow off the road signs!

There are 2 men; one drives and the other leans out the window with a brush on a big stick, and knocks the snow off.

Jim wants that job..........

Surely the best job?

Let it go.....

I can't believe in 4 years we've managed to avoid any reference to Frozen in any of our posts, but as we prep for another weekend away in a few weeks time, without the kids, (yippeeee....or alternatively .....shame.......nah let's stick with yippee ) we are becoming aware of the rapidly dropping temperature back in Norway.

I got a quick update today on work progress and it's a bit too cold to work. Too cold I hear you say! But then I checked the weather and sure enough it's -25 at the moment so I don't blame them....Especially as the heating isn't on! 

I got sent some great (if not rather scarey ) photos of the inside of the house all frozen (yes I did say inside) but this one is my favourite as not only does it frame the neighbours stabbur (small style of barn ) beautifully, but it looks like Elsa has touched the window pane. Beautiful ;) ...now more importantly where the hell are my thermals! 

Ps. I'm pretty sure that at one point in the past i did mention that the church in Røros was the inspiration for the church in Frozen.....no? Well if i didn't, it was,....sorry.....just let it go....and cue the music....

....it's chriiiiiiiistmas...( to be said in a holder stylee)

Well we've just returned from our final weekend before christmas in Norway. (Well just over a week ago now) Our original plan was to get the house 'civilised' by christmas this year and we're not far off!

I no longer have roof envy (yes that is a proper condition....google it ;) ), the house is once again solid thanks to new timber floor beams and more importantly foundations, and we actually have bedrooms at last! When we first looked at the house we spent quite a lot of time working out how to house a bathroom and then how to get bedrooms into the existing floor plan without loosing the original. But the new layout means we can now house our family easily and the house can also be adapted for guests and when we get the en-suite in place, also means that we will have a great master suite (for us most of the time) but for guests when required. Hurrah :) 

Despite being involved in designing and commissioning building work for the last 20 years in the UK, the last year has been quite an eye opener. From the simple things like realising that dishwashers get plumbed in via the kitchen tap with a special shut off valve on the tap (trust me when/if you travel in Norway you will see this! -  it flummoxed me for years what the switch on the tap did!), that you can't just convert a room into a bathroom (you have to use membranes to protect the wall and floor structure before you tile & vinyl) ......although i recently found out that they recommend this in the UK as well, that you have a little heat sensor under your cooker hood that shuts the power off to the cooker if it gets too hot, so you don't forget about pans unattended! 

I know, I guess you had to be there ...but very important non the less! 

So Christmas is upon us we're not quite there yet and poo ing in the barn is ongoing ( I will miss it when it's gone, although I'll secretly still use it as it's the one place I take a poo in quiet! If you have kids you'll understand!)

Anyhow, thank you to all the people, old friends, new friends, new neighbours,  family (old and new), Magnus and his team of carpenters, John and his masons, Kjetil ( plumber and snow patrol rescuer) , Jan and Ove (electricians), structural engineers ( mr b) and anyone else who made the last year possible. 

Finally the pieces of the jigsaw are starting to fall into place....

God Jul. 

One final thought....what is actually in jul brus! Tastes good, but if any Norwegians actually read this then please enlighten us :) 

Turbulence

Ned and I were chatting the other day about flying. He was very excited and told me his favourite bit about flying is "where the plane goes up and our heads go back". Realisation dawning, I said "You mean take off?". "Yes mummy, and the bit where the plane goes up and down and up and down" (complete with actions!).

Well on our latest trip he certainly got his wish! As the plane started its decent into Trondheim airport, we hit turbulence and side winds; the lady next to me was looking scared; I grabbed onto the armrest; small children were crying, but from the other side of the aisle there came giggling and whoops of joy from Ned.