Making it through the winter

I did not know what winter was til I moved to Norway. Thirty four winters in England and two in America could not have possibly prepared me for a long, harsh Nordic winter.
The first year I muddled through with a crap coat and even crappier shoes. I honestly though I could muddle through with my Converse and thick socks like I did every winter in London. ha ha ha hahaaaa!
I'm an expert now. I can do winter just like a nowegian. There is indeed no such thing as bad weather,only bad clothing. I no longer slip and slide on the ice as I wear spikes that I just slide over my super warm and cosy Duckfeet boots. I no longer need lots of layers as I splashed out on a warm coat (if I'm totally honest it's too warm and is hell when I'm going in and out of heated shops...)
I use nice stuff on my face thats not water based (this is the trick for your skin not turning into a chalky sore disaster) and I cope with the long,dark days by making our home as cosy as possible with shit-loads of candles.
That said, I've now had enough. We've had snow on the ground for 6 weeks now. Some of it piled 8 feet high which could possibly take until April to melt and then you have the horror of it all melting during the day and refreezing at night turning your world into a scary ice-rink. I can also no longer see out of our living room window without standing on a stool. If we are lucky it will be gone in 8 weeks and we can count down to Spring.....

p.s That little bird feeder on my window is no longer a bird feeder, it's now a mouse feeder! Bless

Where I want to be...

During the week we rush off to work every morning and at the weekend we are also up and out pretty early but when I woke up this morning to a heavy overnight snowfall I decided we were not leaving the house today. We have plenty of good food, flat is warm and cosy and there is nowhere we need to be. Just here on the sofa in our pj's.
The weather has hovered between -15 and -21c all week and I spend at least 2 hours everyday playing outside at work so a day on the sofa watching the snowfall is much needed :)
Oh, and this week after a wait of 28 months I have finally been granted temporary residency in Norway after taking our battle with the Udi to the next level, the UNE have looked thoroughly into our case and we got a lovely letter this week telling us about all the fuck ups the Udi made with me.
My next fight is to get all the money back that I payed for norwegian lessons (they would have been free if my permit came through straight away like it should have!) You can read my Udi story here
Have a good weekend folks!

the big chill

This weekend has been bitterly,frigidly frigging freezing. The coldest temperatures I have experienced since moving to Norway and the one day that my reliable little car decided not to start due to it being -22c. Even the tips of my hair froze!

2013

What a crappy blogger I am, not even checking in to wish everyone a happy new year. I was hoping to get my blogging mojo back but that has not happened and instead I'm addicted to The Sopranos.
Happy 2013. I'll be back soon.