IKEA

I love shopping at IKEA and I hated that the closest IKEA to me when I lived in VA Beach was 3 hours away.  Now I have an IKEA 30 minutes away and one of the first things I did was go there after coming to Iceland.  

This picture was taken when we first got to IKEA, Kobe was playing with some display toys as we were waiting for my cousin to change her baby's diaper.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!

Getting to Know YOU 5/30/10

I hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Weekend and spending it with the ones you love.   We don't celebrate Memorial Day in Iceland so it is just a regular weekend here.  I have been helping my sister pack up her house preparing for her move this week.  I am so excited to get her closer to me.  Right now she lives about a 10 minute drive away but in the next few days she will be living less than 5 minutes away from me.  Now our children can walk to each others houses and it will only take them a matter of minutes and there are no big roads to cross. 

 I live in a cute little town that's right by the ocean, when I bought my place here 6 years ago there were horses here and there wasn't a store in sight.  Now they have built a whole lotta houses and apartment buildings.  There is a little convenience store right up the street from me and there is a school (one of the best I might add) that has been built.   It is still a very cozy, cute little town and I love living here.  The kids can play outside and they are safe.  Of course there is a little bit of traffic here just like everywhere else but it is not bad because there are no major streets here, only little side streets.

Sorry, I don't know what brought that on :o)

Now as you know there is this great blog hop on Sundays that Ms. Keely created.  I love playing along because Keely pretty much does all the work, all I have to do is answer a few questions (which I love to do).   This great blog hop is called Getting to know YOU!!!  If you want to play along just click right here and you will be redirected to Keely's blog.  Have fun :o)

1.  Have you ever snooped around someone else's house?

Yeah, I'm sure I did when I was younger!

2. Can guys and girls be friends? ( thanks Jen!)

Yes and no!  I have had a lot of guy friends through the years and it usually ends up with one of the people having feelings for the other person.  I do have a few guy friends that I have had for years that I have never dated or anything but those relationships are rare and hard to find.  


3. Can you curl your tongue?

Yup, I sure can :o)

4. Have you ever stolen anything?

When I was 6 years old I went with a friend of mine on a shopping spree.  I came home to my Mamma and told her all about it.  My Mamma took me back to the store and made me return everything that I had stolen!  That was scary enough to where I never stole again!!


5. Would you rather talk on the phone or text?

Talk!!!  I LOVE to talk and would rather talk any day rather than text.  I am not fast enough when I text and it irritates me to be soooo slow!!  Also I am really bad about walking away from the phone and forgetting that I am texting and come back to it hours later and then I feel bad....I would never leave the phone if I have a person on the other end talking to me :o)


6. Memorial Day plans?

As I said above, we don't celebrate Memorial Day in Iceland so I have no plans!


7. What do you do to relax?

I read or sit at my beloved computer!!


8. Do you do anything to honor those that have died fighting for our freedom?

I have a wonderful friend named Travis that died in April 3, 2008.  Travis and I went to High school together and lost touch after that.  I had been finding all of my friend through Myspace and facebook and then I was told that Travis was killed in Iraq.  I was so heartbroken, he was a great guy then and I know he was a great guy until the end.  He left behind a wife and a son.  His brother and sister in law still keep in touch with me.  

I have a link to Travis's Legacy page that I write on and then I also put up links on my facebook page for others to remember him by.  I am so proud of Travis as well as all the other men and women that have died defending our freedom.  I have been a military brat (my step dad was in the Air Force), a Navy wife, my brother in law was a Marine and I have a TON of friends that are still in the service.  I know what these men and women go through to fight for us and I also know what the families go through having to send their loved ones to war.  These Hero's deserve a lot more than just one day to be honored!!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Take a minute to visit my friend Travis's Legacy page and leave his family a comment thanking them for everything that Travis has done for us.  You can also search the site and read about all the other men and women who have died defending your freedom!

Have a safe weekend!

Five Question Friday 5/28/10

I haven't played along with 5QF for a long time, maybe at all since I moved to Iceland.  Well, today I am going to play along :o)  If you want to play along as well just click right here and you will be whisked away by blog land magic over to Mama M's blog.  Mama M is the writer of My Little Life, a fun blog I love to read.

Now let's get started answering some questions!

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?

College...I'm working on that one though :o)

2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on?

Being that I have no significant other to report anything to...I would just buy some food for the house or put gas in my car.  Nothing more exciting than that!

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child?

The Monkey bars and the swings!!!  I loved to hang upside down on the monkey bars and I could stay on there all day long...well at least all recess if I could :o)  I used to love to swing as high as I could and jump off the swings too when I was little.  Too bad my hips are too wide to swing comfortably on now :o(

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?

A little bit of both...I love a good omelet(sp?) with some hash browns and bacon on the side but I also love me some pancakes with hash browns and bacon.  I am not a big fan of very much syrup though.

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?

Both!  I love a clean house but I am telling you sometimes this house looks like a bomb has hit is.  Two days ago it looked like a cheerios bomb had gone off in my dining room and living room.  I try to make sure my home is always presentable though (it looks lived in though :o).

Outside my window

Sorry I have been MIA for the last week.  I went to my Mamma's house Friday last week and stayed until Monday.  My little sister was confirmed on Sunday and my sons were Christened at the church with her.  It was a wonderful day and everything was beautiful.  My bestest friend took pictures (the one who took the picture on the header on my blog) and as soon as she has edited them I will post some pics on here.  


I have had a hard week.  This is starting to hit me more now.  It is becoming more real!  


I want to write on here but I don't know how much to say and I don't know if I should say anything at all about what I am feeling.  I have cried a lot this week and I want to crawl into bed and stay there.  I make myself get up and out of bed and I try to get out of the house and be around people as much as I can.  I am not depressed...reality has just hit me and it hurts.  It's not really the fact that I am getting a divorce that is the hardest part...it is the fact that the person that I trusted with my life is now screwing me over.  I never expected the things that have been said and done to happen between Dewayne and I but I guess I was really wrong!!! 


I will try to update my blog more often, I love you girls so much and miss you like crazy. 


Now on to something more fun...

Abby over at Murdock's Mama is the writer of one of my many must read blogs.  I love to read about her adventures as a Nanny and the mother of one adorable, furry, four legged baby named Murdock.  She has this great question/answer things that she does on Thursdays and this week she has decided to do a MckLinky.  I have participated a few times and wanted to show some love today being that today is the first day Abby has a MckLinky :o)  Why don't you go over to Abby's blog and do the same!!

Outside my window.. the street is quiet.

The time is.. 12:15 am

Today I feel.. all over the place.  I have cried, yelled, laughed and cried, yelled and laughed all over again.

I am thinking.. that I just want to crawl into bed and stay there for a week...too bad I can't fall asleep!!

At the moment, I am thankful.. that I have 3 beautiful, healthy sons.

I am going.. to help my sister pack up her house this weekend (as if I have not done enough packing and unpacking lately....the way I see it is, I am now a PRO).

I am wearing.. black yoga pants and a black v-neck shirt.

I wish.. I can't think of anything off the top of my head to put on here.

I am reading.. Chicken soup for the scrapbookers soul.  I also just got 4 books from my lil sister this past weekend that I want to start reading.

I am working on.. getting my kitchen all put away after the remodel of the kitchen cabinets...pictures will be coming along soon.

I am hoping.. that I will start working next week.

I am hearing.. the clock in the kitchen ticking.

Around the house.. it is finally clean!!  My house has been so hectic for the last few weeks because of the kitchen remodel and today I was able to finish cleaning everything and I just have a few more things to do in the kitchen (that will be done tomorrow).

I bet you didn't know.. that I am falling in love with this color and want everything around me to be in this beautiful, happy color :O)

One of my favorite.. drinks is an Icelandic orange soda called Appelsin.  I love it and am quite hooked since I came home....I really need to stop drinking it!!

Blah

I feel so blah today.  I have been working on my kitchen non stop for the last 4 days and when I think it is coming to a close today I find out that we might have to start all over again!!!  I am so sick of doing this kitchen that I just want to crawl into my bed and stay there for a few days.  When I emerge I want everything to be done and I can use my kitchen again!

We have had some stomach flu for the last few days and now Kobe is crying telling me that his stomach hurts sooo bad.  Poor thing is walking around holding his stomach crying.  I think we are going to make this an early night tonight.

I hope you are all having a great day!!!

Wordy Wednesday

I took this picture of Kobe the night that I moved into my house.  I had taken all of the clothes out of the suitcases trying to find stuff and Kobe decided it was a great place to rest.  He laid there for quite some time :o)  

The Answers

A few weeks ago I wrote a post and said that I would do a Q&A on my blog.  Well, here are the answers to your questions....finally!!!

What is the cost of living comparable to???

Well right now the with the way the exchange rate is the Icelandic Kronur (Kr) is 

100 Kr=$1.32

So 10,000 Kr is equal to $132.

I have been trying to figure out a good way to compare the cost of living here and I think the best way to explain it is like this....

I have been looking around and in the city where I live the rent is about 90,000 Kr for a 2-3 bedroom apartment and that equals out to about $681.82.  Not bad huh?  But.....everything else is outrageous!!!

A gallon of gas here is about 800 Kr=$6.06!!!  You are not allowed to complain about the price of gas again...ok!!

A loaf of bread is about 200 Kr=$2.64 (that is for the cheap brand)

The rent is cheap but it seems like everything else is expensive.

Oh, let me not forget to tell you how much the average pay is....

Since I really do not have a clue what the actual average pay is, I asked around and found out that the unemployment here is 140,000 Kr=$1,060.60 a month.  Could you live on that?

The average rent in my city is almost $700 a month, that means that you have about $360 left to pay utilities, gas in your car, your car payment, daycare, etc, etc!!!

Crazy!!!

If our most common foods are like pizza, hamburgers and fries and baked chicken, what would you consider Iceland's common dinners to be?

Pizza, hamburgers and fries!!  Iceland is getting really into the junk food.  When I was younger we never got to order pizza and hardly ever got to go out to eat but now a days it seems to be more common.

Icelandics eat a lot of fish, lamb, chicken and beef...we do eat horse too :o)  Fish is cheapest of all of those so when I was younger we used to eat it a lot.  Chicken is really expensive and I swear looking at the price of it, I don't think we will be eating it much!!!

What major differences do you see in the way Icelandic people are vs. Americans? (Like, what are your boys noticing is strange/different?)

Icelandics seem to be a little more laid back.  For instance they are not as strict in the schools and the teachers are called by their first names.  The boys loved that and thought that was so cool.  Most Icelandics are all into fashion and they are willing to spend an arm and a leg to make sure they are following the latest trend (I am soooo not that way!!!).  For instance....a pair of brand name jeans cost about 20,000 Kr= $151.51!!!  Would you pay that for a pair of jeans???  Would you buy your kids jeans for $150???  I know that we are not going to be wearing jeans that cost so much money!!!!

Do they celebrate any other holidays?

Iceland celebrates a lot of religious holidays.  For instance the country pretty much closes down for Easter starting on the Thursday.  I can't remember what the day is called in English and then we are closed down for Good Friday, Easter Sunday and the day after Easter.  Christmas is the same way.  We usually get off of work about noon on Christmas Eve, then we are off on Christmas day and the day after Christmas.

Our Independence day is June 17th.

We celebrate Halloween in February but it is not really Halloween.  Over the years it has become kind of similar as in the kids now wear costumes but they go to stores and get candy not door to door.

Are Icelandic men different from American men? How?

Yes!!!

I don't really know how to answer this question.  I don't want to offend anyone...American or Icelandic but I have never been with an Icelandic man so I don't feel like I am the right person to answer this question.

I can tell you that my Dad and Step Dad are really hard working men.  They are great and wonderful and would do anything for me....what Dad wouldn't though :o)

See what I mean??

Is the climate similar?

No!!!  It is not humid in Iceland at all!!!  We have decent weather here but it doesn't get as hot as it gets in the States but it also does not get as cold as it get there either.  This week the temperature is all over the 50s (degrees that is).  It is kinda hard to get used to how cold is still is here compared to what it was like in Chicago before I left (70s and 80s).

Is the volcano affecting anything where you are? Did you see it from the air when you were flying over?

The volcano is not affecting us where we live (we are about 2-3 hours away) but it is affecting the airport which is about 15 minutes from my house.  

I did not see the volcano when we flew over because it is too dangerous to fly over it due to the ash.  But, we were not headed in that direction anyway :o)

How close are you to your family?

If you are asking how close I live....

I live about 10 minutes from my sister.  She is moving on the 1st and then we will be about 5 minutes from each other (in a car).

I live 5-10 minutes from my Mamma's whole side of the family and I live about 1.5 hours away from my Mamma.

YES!!!!   I see my sister everyday!!!  I see my Aunts and cousins a few times a week and sometimes everyday.  My Grandmother lives about 10 minutes away and I see her a few times a week, she is in Spain on vacation right now and I am water her plants while she is gone....speaking of watering her plants, I really need to get my butt over there to water those poor things before they die on me!!!!

Did that volcano effect your travels at all?

No, but I got really lucky!!!  The week before I left for Iceland the volcano was responsible for closing down most of the airports in Europe.  So far there had been no problems with flights coming in and out of the USA though.  The day after I got here they cancelled all flights coming out of the USA.  I was so thankful to have gotten here when I did.  I don't know what I would have done with 3 little boys stuck in Boston waiting for the Volcano to settle down.

Is the schooling system similar? Will the boys have to repeat grades?

The boys are not going to have to repeat any grades thank goodness!!!  In Iceland the children go to school from 1st-10th grade.  Most kids go on to college after that though.  

Do you like your new place?

My new place is actually my old place and yes I do like it.  

I live in a two story house and I own the top floor.  It is a 2-3 bedroom apartment but I have it set up as a 2 bedroom apartment.  I bought this place in the beginning of 2004 and when I was in the States I rented it out to my Dad.  When I told him I was coming home he told me the place was all mine and I moved right back in.  My Dad is working over seas and has been gone for about 9 months so the apartment has been sitting empty all that time but my Dad is coming home around the beginning of June and now he has to find a new place to live :o(  Poor thing....he's happy to have me here so he doesn't care LOL!!!

I didn't used to like this place when I lived here before but I am trying to make some changes to make this place better than ever and make it more like home for the boys and I.  I will be showing you guys some pics of my projects as soon as I am finished! 

Have you unpacked? 

Yep!!  It took me awhile but I have finally found a place for everything.  When I got here I had to pack all of my Dad's stuff and clean everything and that took a while.  It was kinda hard to figure out how I wanted to have everything but now I am settled in :o)

What's Iceland REALLY like? Is it really green, and Greenland is really ice?

Iceland is green and Greenland is Ice!!!

The story goes like this...

Once upon a time the Vikings went all over the world and stole all the most beautiful women and then they discovered Iceland.  They named it Iceland so no one would want to come here and that way no one would steal their women.  

The Vikings then discovered Greenland and named it Greenland so everyone would go there and freeze :o)

What's it been like for you with the volcano eruption? And, how the HECK do you pronounce the name of that volcano?!!

Like I said earlier, the volcano hasn't really affected me at all.  The name of the Volcano is Eyjafjallajökull

AKA

Islandmountainglacier

That's how it translates :o)

How far from the eruption were you?

2-3 hours

How are your boys adjusting?

Tyrique loves it here!!!  He doesn't ever want to move away again.

Markus said that he is going to go to college in the states when he is 18 but he is doing pretty well too.  He doesn't speak the language like Tyrique does but he is learning and I am hoping he starts to make friends soon.

Kobe loves having all his cousins to play with.  He loves how much time we spend outdoors and he LOVES having his Amma and Afi (Grandma and Grandpa).  Kobe misses his Daddy something awful though!!!

How are YOU adjusting?

Um, well....I am keeping REALLY busy!!!  I do not like to sit idle for a minute...I don't want to sit and think about what is going on.  My friend keeps telling me that I have to allow myself to mourn my marriage and I have to face reality but I like not crying!!  I am a big cry baby and I know that once I start I won't be able to stop.  To me this all seems like a dream still.  I just haven't woken up yet!!

I was wondering how the economy is there, since Iceland has been having a really bad time since the recession? 

The country is bankrupt and you can see that everywhere you go.  It is really sad to see how bad off the country really is but I love that people are trying to be positive.

There are empty houses and buildings all over from people not being able to afford to finish building or from people who have been foreclosed on.  

Everything here is really expensive and the prices just keep going up and no one is getting any richer.

We will survive!!!

How are you getting by?

I have no income as of right now.  I have a job lined up that I start around the 1st of June but it is only for the summer.  Up until I get my first paycheck I am getting help from my parents and sister and her hubby.  It's sad but it was the only way I could move back here.  This was a really expensive trip and I used all of my money getting what we needed to move here.

Okay, I have answered all of the questions that were asked...phew!!!  I didn't realize it was that many questions :o)

If you want to know anything else....ask away!!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

Guess who's 10

Markus!!!!

This picture was taken on Markus's 7th birthday.  I can't believe my baby boy is 10 years old!!!  It feels like we just took this picture yesterday!

This picture was taken of Markus in October.  My big boy has all his grown up teeth in there now (at least the ones that are supposed to be there already), he has gotten sooo much bigger but he looks just the same to me :o)

Here is Markus's birth story for those of you that are interested :)

Markus was born at 8:17 pm in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  My labor with him was such an easy labor I was having a hard time believing that the baby laying in the heater next to me was mine.  

I woke up at 10 am and went to the bathroom and there was quite a bit of blood in the toilet.  I called my drs office and talked to the nurse and she said it might be because I had been checked the day before and she told me to call if there was anymore blood.  Well being that I was pregnant I of course had to pee shortly after getting off the phone with the nurse.  This time when I went to the bathroom there was even more blood.  The nurse told me to come into the drs office so they could check me to make sure everything was ok.  I had been having contractions the whole night but nothing major.  

So off to the drs office I went and they hooked me up to the monitors and I was having steady contractions.  The dr came in and checked me and I was 3 cm dilated, he said he wanted to check my bag of water after that and went to put his hand in there again and my water broke at that exact moment.  It gushed all over the floor but the dr got lucky and none went on him.  

The dr told me to go to the hospital which was about 5 min away and he would see me there shortly.  At this point it is about 2 pm.  We drove to the hospital and I went straight up to Labor and delivery and demanded a shower because I wanted to wash up before everyone went checking me so I could feel clean and not like I just peed myself.  They told me I couldn't take a shower yet, first I had to be monitored for a little while.

I told the nurses that I wanted to make sure I got an epidural with this child since I had my first naturally and I wanted to experience a "pain free" labor.  I was at 4 cm when they checked me and they told me I could have an epidural at any time now and I didn't have to wait till the contractions got bad before getting the epidural.  Well at this point I am barely feeling the contractions so I told them no, no yet.  This was about 3:30 pm.

By about 5 pm the contractions were getting pretty strong where I was practicing my Lamaze breathing so I told them that I wanted the epidural.  They checked me at this point and I was 5 cm dilated.  The anesthesiologist comes in and puts in the epidural and tells me it will take just a few more minutes  and then I will not feel anything.  I get really excited about the epidural and the idea of having a pain free labor but by 6 pm I am feeling some really strong contractions.  I call the nurse in my room and tell her that they all lied to me when telling me the epidural is going to work within minutes because I was still feeling the contractions really strong.  

The anesthesiologist comes back in the room and ups my dose on the epidural and tells me just to wait a few minutes and it should work good then.  So I sit and wait......

At about 6:30-7 pm I was getting pissed off that the damn epidural is not working and I tell the nurse, this epidural does not work!!!  I can feel so much pressure!!!  She asks me...what kind of pressure are you feeling??  I told her I felt like my ass was going to explode.  She decides to check to see how far dilated I am only to discover that I was 10 cm dilated and baby was ready to come.

She calls the dr in and when he came in they see that I wasn't having contractions....they were all gone and had been for awhile by this point.  I tried to tell them when I came in there that with my first child was born my labor stopped when I reached 10 cm and they had to give me potocin at that point to help me along but the dr told me that wouldn't happen again...guess what it did!!!

So I get potocin and they wait till my contractions are nice and strong and by this point it is a little bit after 8 pm.  The nurse tells me that she wants me to push on my next contraction.  So next contraction comes along and I start to push.  She tells me to stop pushing because she needs to get the dr, the baby is coming right now!!  I stopped pushing right away and she kept telling me to stop and  I told her I wasn't pushing he was just sliding out.  Well she runs to get he dr  dr is trying to get his gloves on.  

Markus Gabriel made his entrance into this world by barely being caught on his way out weighing in at 9 lbs 9 oz and 22 inches long.  He was beautiful and perfect in every way!!  He was the perfect baby just like all my boys have been.  Sleeping through the night from the start and Markus was always happy and smiling at everything and everyone.  Still to this day he melts every ones hearts he meets.  

Happy Birthday big boy!!!  Your Mamma loves you!