In other news

Mirthful

(Yes, it’s an actual post about something. Though, admittedly it’s not about anything terribly important.)

Martin went to Oslo today for three days of teaching (or is it “training”?) his fellow employees how to drink sweet sickly stuff (i.e. sherry and amaruhla and that sort of thing – not that I don’t occasionally enjoy a spot of sherry myself, though not so much just nowadays, obviously, this not drinking thing can be hard to stick to when tempted by unusual stuff but sherry is not what I miss most). So I’ve got the house to myself for two nights (actually more like three, he’ll only be back in time for bed on Wednesday). I thought I might give reorganizing the broom-cupboard a try, and see if some of the stuff that’s currently making the “nursery” look like a broom-cupboard can’t be fitted in there somehow. Maybe. This certainly needs to be done soonish as the nursery really needs to be painted before it can be used as such. Perhaps it’s just me, but bright blue (3300CC or thereabouts) doesn’t seem like the ideal wall colour for anyone with eyesight. And I do hope the baby has eyesight, after all, though in any case painting the room seems like a good idea as we’re going to have to spend time in there ourselves (at least I’m told newborns can’t actually do such things as go to bed and tidy their room without some help).

So that’s the plan.

I also have to do some scrapbooking, as I signed up to do a “scrapping relay” (more like a team scrap than a relay, but never mind) at scrapping.no to get a bit of a kick start after doing pretty much no scrapping whatsoever since May (which is not the way to get through these piles of photos). So far it’s been good fun, and I even managed some layouts that I’m more than happy with, but it does demand actually sitting down and doing something rather than just thinking about it. Actually, since I bet this is thrilling beyond belief, here are a couple of the pages I’ve completed so far:

Mmmmmmmmmeme

Mirthful

Thanks to Jamelah, I have a meme to do:

The Idea: Leave a comment and I?ll give you a letter. Then you must think of 10 song titles that start with that letter (as well as the artist), without using Google or other cheats.

And I have M.

So.

My Funny Valentine – Frank Sinatra
Milennium – Robbie Williams
Missing You – Chris de Burgh
Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson (or is that “The Man in the Mirror”? I’ll have to google when I’m done here…)
Merry Christmas Everyone – Wings
Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney
Michelle – The Beatles
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm – Crash Test Dummies (edit: title should be “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”, much the same thing, I suppose)
Mbop – Hansons
Miss Jones – Frank Sinatra
Mrs. Robinson – Simon and Garfunkle
Mr. Bojangles – Robbie Williams
Mac the Knife – Louis Armstrong

Ok. I was suddenly on a roll there and I’m sure some of them will turn out to be “wrong” (like old Jacko there, is there a “The” at the beginning of the title?) once I start googling…

Edit: Hm. Turns out Jacko dropped the “The”. However, the Wings song is called “Wonderful Christmas Time” so I have no idea who sang “Merry Christmas Everyone” (or if that is even a song title). Also, it’s “MMMBop”, apparently. And Hanson. No s at the end. Well, I’m not really disappointed to have gotten that one wrong… And looking at the Wikipedia entry for My Funny Valentine I was beginning to think I’d have to strike that too, on account of artist, but it seems Sinatra did record it (he and half the planet) so that’s ok after all.

Ja, jeg trenger dem desverre…

Mirthful

Ti bud for kvinner med bekkenløsning:

1. Unngå vridninger med kroppen.
2. Unngå å henge på et ben – stå med vekten likt fordelt på begge ben.
3. Unngå å løfte og bære tunge ting.
4. Unngå å sitte med bena over kors eller i skredderstilling. Sitt rett i stolen.
5. Unngå støvsuging og gulvvask.
6. Avpass dine skritt etter smerten. Har du mye vondt, gå med veldig små skritt.
7. Hvis du har vondt, ta ett trinn om gangen i trappen.
8. Inn og ut av bil: Baklengs inn i forsetet, drei rundt mot bilens front.
9. Samleie: Ryggliggende stilling gir ofte smerter over symfysen og korsryggen. Prøv med en fast pute under bekkenet, så skjeden kommer i bedre retning i forhold til penis. Mannen bør støtte på armene. Eksprimenter med alternative samleiestillinger.
10. Hold knærne samlet når du snur deg i sengen.

Also

Mirthful

You may have noticed: I started uploading holiday pictures to Flickr yesterday evening. I also have wonderful pictures still in the camera from the most amazing thunderstorm this weekend. Hailstones the size of marbles (quite clearly the gods lost theirs) and water, lots of it. They will appear. But don’t hold your breath, please.

Oki

Mirthful 2 Comments
You scored as XIX: The Sun. This is the happiest card in the deck. It is full of joy and optimism, everything is right with the world. We are as innocent children playing in the fields without care. The Sun brings success, well-being and happiness in all spheres – material, emotional, spiritual -wherever our desires lay.When this card appears in a Tarot spread it indicates success, joy and happiness. Obstacles will be overcome, goals achieved.When badly aspected, it can indicate a stagnation through over-indulgence, too much of a good thing.

Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Via Donna – and I tied with “The Empress” and got the sun when I chose “You are a happy person.” over “You are female.” as being “more true” (I figured it made sense since every time I do one of these tests where a computer is supposed to decide whether you are male or female from your writing or responses I always get “male” as a result).

Lufta er for alle

Mirthful

… sier Ine, og det kan man jo forsåvidt være enig i. Uansett er memer fine måter å fylle bloggen litt på sånn i agurktiden. Poenget her er å svare på spørsmål man kunne risikert å fått hvis man sto på journalistenes liste over Personer Som Får Navnet Sitt I Avisen.

Dagens Næringsliv: Hvilke bøker har du på nattbordet akkurat nå, og hva vil du si om dem?
Jeg har en voksende bunke bøker på nattbordet – jeg har nemlig begynt å legge (for det meste nyanskaffede) bøker dit som jeg har tenkt til å lese “snart”. Så vidt jeg kan huske inneholder den blandt annet:
Testemonies – Patrick O’Brian
I Know You Got Soul – Jeremy Clarkson
The Anatomy of Bibliomania – Holbrook Jackson
Choice Cuts – Mark Kurlansky
Svålhålet – Mikael Niemi
Gymnaslærer Pedersens beretning om den store politiske vekkelsen som har hjemsøkt vårt land – Dag Solstad
Somewhere South of Here – William Kowalski
Scribbling the Cat – Alexandra Fuller

TV3: Hvilken gjenstand ville du hatt med deg til Robinson-øya?
Jeg ville først nektet å dra, men hadde jeg måttet hadde vel en bok vært en livsnødvendighet, med en skikkelig letherman-aktig multiverktøydings som neste post på listen.

Dagbladet: Hvilket dyr føler du deg som?
Et som sover hele døgnet, likegyldig hvilket, dovendyr, murmeldyr, løve el.l.

Sporten: Hva føler du nå?
Kvalme. Etter godt og vel tre måneder har visst kroppen min kommet på at det er vanlig med kvalme i svangerskapet. Eller kanskje jeg faktisk er syk. Gudene vet.

Dagbladet: Hvis himmelen fantes, hva ville du likt at Gud sa i det du ankom?
Velkommen, biblioteket er der borte.

VG: Hvordan ser din drømmeforside av VG ut?
Uhm. Må tenke litt på den.

Hvor vil du helst dra, og hvilken kjent person ville du hatt med deg dit?
Hvis jeg hadde måttet ha med meg en kjent person hadde jeg vel kanskje valgt en eller annen idiot som synes Norge bruker for mye penger på U-hjelp – for eksempel en fremskrittspartipolitiker – og reist til slummen i en tilfeldig valgt storby, som Manila, Rio eller Bombay. Hadde jeg fått lov å ta med meg Arve eller noen andre jeg faktisk gjerne vil på ferie med, som Linda for eksempel, kan jeg komme på andre steder jeg heller ville reist…

Hvor var du da Brå brakk staven? (Er du for ung: hvor var du da Lady Di døde?)
Når brakk Brå staven? Siden jeg ikke husker det antar jeg at jeg klassifiserer som “for ung” selv om jeg er rimelig sikker på at det skjedde lenge etter at jeg ble født. Uansett, når Diana døde var jeg hjemme hos mamma og pappa og ventet på at sommeren skulle være over så jeg kunne reise til Manchester for å studere, og mamma kom og vekket meg og sa hun trodde kanskje jeg ville se nyhetene. Jeg husker at jeg satt der og tenkte at “Det kan umulig være sant, det er en dårlig spøk” mens britiske tv-personligheter som normalt er personifiseringen av “stiff upper lip” hadde problemer med å snakke uten å bryte ut i krampegråt.

Og jeg likte ikke engang Diana noe særlig. Det var en surrealistisk formiddag.

Friends: Hvem ville du hatt på lista di over fem personer du får lov til å kose med uten at dama/typen din kaller det utroskap?
Helt ærlig så klarer jeg faktisk ikke å komme på noen. Det er mulig at det gjør meg til en forferdelig trist type som virkelig trenger å komme seg ut mer, men sånn er det nå en gang.

Big Brother: Ta alderen på den eldste du har ligget med. Trekk fra alderen på den yngste. Gang svaret med antall partnere du har hatt. (eksempler: 66 år – 16 år = 50*2 partnere=100, 17 år – 16 år=1*100 partnere=også 100). hva er tallet ditt?
Det er mot min religiøse overbevisning å svare på spørsmål som har med Big Brother å gjøre.

Hva er meningen med livet?
Å nyte det.

Magasinet: De første ordene. Kanskje de viktigste. Hvorfor ble det akkurat slik (bruk en bok, en handleliste, forrige bloggpost eller noe annet du har skrevet).
“It’s on 29 July, apparently, which is all good.”
Eh. Kanskje ikke den setningen som innbyr mest til dyp litterær analyse.

Memer: Hvem tagger du (dvs. hvem utfordrer du til å svare på disse spørsmålene)?
Jeg gidder aldri tagge folk, det føles litt som å videresende kjedebrev.

Yay, blogathon!

Mirthful

It’s on 29 July, apparently, which is all good. And no, I’m not even contemplating doing it this year, I have enough problems staying awake for twelve hours, 24 would be impossible and since the event starts at 3 pm local time I’d actually have to stay awake from whenever I wake up (which, knowing me, would probably be ridiculously early if sleeping in was the plan) until 3 pm the next day – a minimum of 30 hours or so. Not possible in any way, shape or form.

However, there is no need to despair, plenty of worthy people are blogging for worthy causes, and you can sponsor some of them instead. So far I’ve pledged about a dollar an hour to Jamelah‘s chosen charity, because, well, Jamelah’s blog is entertaining reading and also who hasn’t figured that breast cancer sucks? Read more about the Blogathon here.

Back from Scotland

Mirthful 1 Comment

Ah, it’s good to be home. Not, I assure you, that being in Scotland isn’t good, but still. We’ve had a mostly wonderful couple of weeks (photographs will be forthcoming on Flickr when I get around to uploading), and as usual the weather’s been myth-defyingly sunny. Luckily it’s mostly windy enough in the Hebrides to keep the temperatures at a pleasant level even when there’s not a cloud in the sky.

One of the many reasons I haven’t been updating much lately was also the reason for the not-so-wonderful parts of the holiday. For those not yet in the know, I’m now around 15 weeks pregnant (I thought I’d better wait until I told my employer before I started blogging the fact…). This means, of course, that I had to stick to mostly nosing all the wonderful whisky lavished on us at every stop (well, not all of it was wonderful, I can’t say I minded not being able to drink when we visited Tobermory, for example, but hush, don’t tell them…). Martin claims it saved us a whole lot of money, as the nights at the pub were short for both of us and sparkling water and orange juice is cheaper than cider and whisky anyway. This was a foreseen hitch, though, and a sacrifice I was reasonably happy to make (most of the whiskies were, to sweeten the pill, stuff I’ve tasted before and may drink again whenever I want in about a year). There was however a not-so-wonderful incident on Saturday when I started bleeding pretty heavily just after lunch. I have therefore had the relatively unusual experience of being admitted to the hospital on Islay and spending a night in their care. The midwife, doctors and nurses were kind and as helpful as they could possibly be, still, it was an experience I could have done without quite happily. However, things settled down and we were given a referral to the Queen Mother’s Hospital in Glasgow (we were on our way to Glasgow anyway – had things not settled down I would have been flown over to the mainland, as it was I was happy to make my own way on the ferry and buses) where we were scanned and pronounced to be in good shape. Whatever caused the bleeding seems to have had little to do with the pregnancy and doesn’t seem to have bothered the baby at all. Which is reassuring.

I’m still feeling a bit apprehensive and looking foreward to the stage where I will actually feel the baby’s movements (an active little creature, according to the nurse who did the scanning, though I can’t feel a thing), which will probably not be for another couple of weeks. This week I’ll be seeing a local midwife and meet other expecting mothers, which should be interesting.

Oh, and the due date is new year’s day. How silly is that?

Gah

Mirthful 1 Comment

3rd May? It’s been that long? Sorry guys, seems the more I have to write about the less I write. Fortuitously. Donna provided a meme. Aren’t you lucky?

Q: What?s the last text message on your mobile say?
A. “Gratulerer med dagen i g