miðvikudagur, ágúst 31, 2005
So, here we are, back in Spain, after a great two and a half weeks in Iceland, back to sweating, lying around pooped and real life. We had a great time with mamma, pabbi and darri and occasionally with Freyr (who was busy), oh and of course, with the two gerbils, in their beautiful new house as well as travelling a bit around the country which turned out perfect even though we had a lot of fog. I ate as much food as I could, seizing the moment of being able to eat all my favorite foods in Iceland that don´t exist in Spain (including lots of snúðar, Piknik and good cheese), and of course I gained about 4 kilos. But that´s ok, since I am pregnant, now I probably weigh even more, but I´m not worrying about weight, just enjoying feeling good and starting to feel the movements of the baby. Normally when I´m lying down it starts to kick and I call Manu to come and feel it, and then of course it stops. I think it´s listening, Manu is sure that it´s teasing him. But he has caught one or two :)
We were sad to leave Iceland again, even more this time than ever before and we have our dreams of being able to go live there sometime in the future. Waiting for us here in Spain was our little apartment (which seemed even smaller than ever after staying at mamma´s and pabbi´s) and our two krazies, who weren´t even that excited about us coming back this time, I guess they´re getting used to it. Kisa did try to sleep on top of my belly all night long the first night back, but I had to push her off because I couldn´t breathe. And waiting for us also were our jobs that should start now is September, only that they called us this week to tell us that they weren´t going to renew my contract. For stupid politically oriented reasons, they won´t give me the job back, so I´m out of a job, and I hadn´t been working long enough before that to ask for government support so this will be a funfilled interesting year for us. We´ve seen the bright side of it all, and I have enough things that I can do instead of work and I already have some goals set (read all the books in our house instead of buying new ones, finishing up my studies, try to get private students, keep the house clean, etc), some more realistic than others (like reading the books is probably more realistic for me than cleaning house!). It´s probably better for me and the baby that I´m not working anyway, and the economic side will work out some way or another.
So that´s life, unfair or not, I prefer to not dwell on it, and think of what I can get out of the situation. My life did not center around my work, although it was important, and I have lots of projects and ideas to do, hey I could even start to paint again! The only bad part is that Manu might have to work more, or look for some more work. But we decided that our roles aren´t that badly divided between the two: he works and cooks, and I´m the chauffeur and housecleaner. Not that bad, is it? :Þ
We were sad to leave Iceland again, even more this time than ever before and we have our dreams of being able to go live there sometime in the future. Waiting for us here in Spain was our little apartment (which seemed even smaller than ever after staying at mamma´s and pabbi´s) and our two krazies, who weren´t even that excited about us coming back this time, I guess they´re getting used to it. Kisa did try to sleep on top of my belly all night long the first night back, but I had to push her off because I couldn´t breathe. And waiting for us also were our jobs that should start now is September, only that they called us this week to tell us that they weren´t going to renew my contract. For stupid politically oriented reasons, they won´t give me the job back, so I´m out of a job, and I hadn´t been working long enough before that to ask for government support so this will be a funfilled interesting year for us. We´ve seen the bright side of it all, and I have enough things that I can do instead of work and I already have some goals set (read all the books in our house instead of buying new ones, finishing up my studies, try to get private students, keep the house clean, etc), some more realistic than others (like reading the books is probably more realistic for me than cleaning house!). It´s probably better for me and the baby that I´m not working anyway, and the economic side will work out some way or another.
So that´s life, unfair or not, I prefer to not dwell on it, and think of what I can get out of the situation. My life did not center around my work, although it was important, and I have lots of projects and ideas to do, hey I could even start to paint again! The only bad part is that Manu might have to work more, or look for some more work. But we decided that our roles aren´t that badly divided between the two: he works and cooks, and I´m the chauffeur and housecleaner. Not that bad, is it? :Þ
fimmtudagur, ágúst 04, 2005
Thursday, 4.ágúst
It is about time that I write a blog, i.e. tap into that endless stream of daily thoughts to let you all know whasup. The Spanish branch arrived safe’nsound on Monday evening and only took 30 minutes to get from the airplane to us!! That was the shortest time I’ve ever waited for someone to get out of customs! (no fancy dress this time.....haha! but little did they know what she was carrying under her “belt” haha!) And of course the first thing we all did when we got home was to “visit” the gerbils (los jerbos), Miss Dimmalimm and Þumalína, alias Dimma & Lína. They were very polite and did not bite(sounds like a limerick...). Thus began the days of planning, eating, talking, snacking, plan-changing, eating, visiting friends, food shopping, to keep on eating, gerbilholding, eatingeatingeating......(when you’re pregnant......). And yesterday we went with them to a sonar skoðun that Mundi had arranged, and we gr-parents-to-be got to watch as well and it was pretty neat. The doctor spend a long time as she was trying to get the little one to turn around so she could check the whole spinal column (as a determination of developmental age....apparently the tail bone forms last around 20 weeks), and finally “it” did it and so she(Úlla) is 18 weeks,4days along, and no they did not want to know the sex so the doctor avoided that area. We saw big hands and the family forehead(my side) and a little ET face. All is well. And so(....back at the ranch....)
And needless to say, the summer is going too quickly by.....I found out that I actually start having teacher-planning meetings on the 15th, and I have lots to do before then, one of which is buy some clothes!!!my most favorite thing to do!(it ranks second, after scrubbing bathrooms). But at least we did get a fair amount done before Úlla y Manu arrived. We even had the roof painted (Ellí did it and got a darker tan from that than the 2 weeks he spent in Portugal right before!...such was the strength of our sun on those days.)(this is Ellí, Ellí’s and Þórhildur’s son), which was work for us as one has to be around and answer questions and talk and provide refreshments.....you know, all that “interacting” one needs to do to keep up the workman’s spirits so they do an even better job (right Þóra?). It actually took twice as long to do as expected because the roof had to be cleaned first and was so dirty, and then all the nails had to be sanded and painted first, and then the first coat neede more paint than expected because the roof soaked it up, etc etc. And as always, other “problems” pop up, i.e. future repair thingies: need to replace part of a gutter that just does not drain (the owner did some kind of 90 degree angle when he added the sunroooms so that everything gets stuck right there, causing the gutters to overflow, which cause the underside of the rafters in a couple of places to be possibly rotting......you know, fun thingies). And of course, just before all of this, we discovered a possible leak through the living room ceiling (not dangerous, but still needs more checking); and 2 days after we do our “afsal”, which is the final payment to the previous owner and getting thus the deed to the house (a process in which one then negotiates last minute payments concerning possible unforseen repairs, like that leak and lack of pipe from Freysi’s shower out of the house—it ended in the crawlspace/attic and the moisture was probably the cause of foresaid leak, for which we got some money), yes 2 days later the front door handle came off!! Oh well.
So, the advantages of growing older is that these kinds of things don’t “irritate” one quite as much as they did when one was first getting into ownership? (it’s called fatigue, says Mundi.....or did he say “old age”?) That’s why it’s always helpful to have silly animals around, and have funny-shaped relatives visiting who really appreciate being here(our ísskápur is very happy.....so many more interesting things coming-and-going, instead of all those endless leftovers!).
And last bit of news for now, Darri is learning to drive, has taken six lessons and soon will be going to a 2-day ökuskóli for the first part of the book stuff. And we ask him, how’s it going, Darri? He says, ...ehhh! So you see, maybe all those years of PS2 playing are paying off! Stay tuned!!...and send me stiff to post!!
It is about time that I write a blog, i.e. tap into that endless stream of daily thoughts to let you all know whasup. The Spanish branch arrived safe’nsound on Monday evening and only took 30 minutes to get from the airplane to us!! That was the shortest time I’ve ever waited for someone to get out of customs! (no fancy dress this time.....haha! but little did they know what she was carrying under her “belt” haha!) And of course the first thing we all did when we got home was to “visit” the gerbils (los jerbos), Miss Dimmalimm and Þumalína, alias Dimma & Lína. They were very polite and did not bite(sounds like a limerick...). Thus began the days of planning, eating, talking, snacking, plan-changing, eating, visiting friends, food shopping, to keep on eating, gerbilholding, eatingeatingeating......(when you’re pregnant......). And yesterday we went with them to a sonar skoðun that Mundi had arranged, and we gr-parents-to-be got to watch as well and it was pretty neat. The doctor spend a long time as she was trying to get the little one to turn around so she could check the whole spinal column (as a determination of developmental age....apparently the tail bone forms last around 20 weeks), and finally “it” did it and so she(Úlla) is 18 weeks,4days along, and no they did not want to know the sex so the doctor avoided that area. We saw big hands and the family forehead(my side) and a little ET face. All is well. And so(....back at the ranch....)
And needless to say, the summer is going too quickly by.....I found out that I actually start having teacher-planning meetings on the 15th, and I have lots to do before then, one of which is buy some clothes!!!my most favorite thing to do!(it ranks second, after scrubbing bathrooms). But at least we did get a fair amount done before Úlla y Manu arrived. We even had the roof painted (Ellí did it and got a darker tan from that than the 2 weeks he spent in Portugal right before!...such was the strength of our sun on those days.)(this is Ellí, Ellí’s and Þórhildur’s son), which was work for us as one has to be around and answer questions and talk and provide refreshments.....you know, all that “interacting” one needs to do to keep up the workman’s spirits so they do an even better job (right Þóra?). It actually took twice as long to do as expected because the roof had to be cleaned first and was so dirty, and then all the nails had to be sanded and painted first, and then the first coat neede more paint than expected because the roof soaked it up, etc etc. And as always, other “problems” pop up, i.e. future repair thingies: need to replace part of a gutter that just does not drain (the owner did some kind of 90 degree angle when he added the sunroooms so that everything gets stuck right there, causing the gutters to overflow, which cause the underside of the rafters in a couple of places to be possibly rotting......you know, fun thingies). And of course, just before all of this, we discovered a possible leak through the living room ceiling (not dangerous, but still needs more checking); and 2 days after we do our “afsal”, which is the final payment to the previous owner and getting thus the deed to the house (a process in which one then negotiates last minute payments concerning possible unforseen repairs, like that leak and lack of pipe from Freysi’s shower out of the house—it ended in the crawlspace/attic and the moisture was probably the cause of foresaid leak, for which we got some money), yes 2 days later the front door handle came off!! Oh well.
So, the advantages of growing older is that these kinds of things don’t “irritate” one quite as much as they did when one was first getting into ownership? (it’s called fatigue, says Mundi.....or did he say “old age”?) That’s why it’s always helpful to have silly animals around, and have funny-shaped relatives visiting who really appreciate being here(our ísskápur is very happy.....so many more interesting things coming-and-going, instead of all those endless leftovers!).
And last bit of news for now, Darri is learning to drive, has taken six lessons and soon will be going to a 2-day ökuskóli for the first part of the book stuff. And we ask him, how’s it going, Darri? He says, ...ehhh! So you see, maybe all those years of PS2 playing are paying off! Stay tuned!!...and send me stiff to post!!
