IKEA!!!

For Christmas my parents gave me and my boyfriend 3000 NOK to spend on things we need. Unfortunately for us, there is A LOT of things we need! New phone, stationary computer, and a bunch of stuff for our apartment. We ended up going to IKEA to buy some shelfs, because we desperately need something where we can put all of our stuff. Until now a lot of our stuff has been in little boxes around the apartment, all piled up, hehe.. So finally we can do something about it!! Besides, my birthday is coming up soon, and I am sure i'll get money instead of "gifts", so the phone and pc have to wait. And when you go to Ikea, you never just come out with what you only intended to buy! ;)

So when you go to IKEA, you never just come out with what you ONLY intended to buy! ;) Along with the shelfs we ended up with a couple of pillow cases, a blanket, and a couple of orchids and pots. I must say I am proud of myself for not bying even more, especially since a lot was on sale. But we really need to save money.
 The shelfs are all built up now, but we havn't had the time to figure out a system yet. So tomorrow we are going to shine this place from head till toe, and then I am going to take pictures of our shined up apartment :D
A friend from Australia is also coming on Wednesday, and we're really excited about meeting him again. So we needed to clean anyways ;)

The Hunger Games

I just finished reading a trilogy called: "The Hunger Games". This is a very powerful book-series that I highly recommend. I got my first book on Christmas Eve, and I have already read all 3 of them.

I am kind of an extreme reader. Either, I don't read at all, or when I finally start to read, and I like the book, i can't put it away. Which is quite funny when people start talking to me while I am reading, and usually its in a really good section..:P Then i get really annoyed and just wanna be left alone, haha. 

Anyways, this book series is amazing.

Here is a little intro:

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death - televised for all of Panem to see. 

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love. 

WINNING WILL MAKE YOU FAMOUS. LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH. 

As you might have realised already, the main character in this book is Katniss Everdeen. She is our "so called" hero. But there is a second hero in this book, and his name is Peeta Mellark. He is the boy that's chosen from District 12 along with Katniss. We will follow them both through the deadly games, where only one will win.. The question is: who?

This/these book(s) is/are filled with excitement from the very beginning, and it/they will touch your hearts in many ways.

I honestly hope they will make a movie trilogy out of this. It would make a very powerful triology..

Has anyone read them??

IF you wanna know more about these books, just click here

Happy New Year :)

Christmas is over, and we have a new year ahead of us :)
My Christmas was quite nice. I spent it with my boyfriend's family in Germany Only downside was that i was worried about getting sick over there like i did last time (and that didn't go very well at all.) Luckily i didn't get too sick, but I did get a little, most likely from my medicine. Also it was very tiering for me, because only my boyfriend's closest family speaks English. And even that's a rarity. So it's a lot of mental strain sorta speak. But all in all it was very nice, and it was fun experience :)
Then we celebrated New Year's with my family in Norway, which was also nice, but unfortunately we had a big snowstorm. We were planning on joining the parade (We have a parade where everyone dress up, and walk through the city.) but the weather was soo bad that even the fireworks were cancelled. The parade still went though, but not a lot of people participated. The good news is that 2 days later we still got our fireworks, and it lasted for 20 minutes! several thousands showed up to watch it. And for a small town, that's pretty good!

So we have only been about a week into the new year, and I have already gotten really sick, and had some unpleasant action. First of all, Our neighbor ran into our car backing out. At least my parents doesn't have to pay for the damages. Then my boyfriend and my mom was stuck at the airport for 10 hours! they could have easily come home in the meantime, but they had to stay just in case. The reason was a lot of snow, and the snow could stop at any minute and so on. So when my boyfriend finally decided to cancel his ticket back to Bergen, and then take a boat instead, they start to board the plane. "Yeeeeah, greeeaat." Luckily my dad talked them in to putting him on the plane. My mom on the other-hand had already re-booked, and was too fed up to go. Ruined a lot for her work, but she managed :)
Then the worst part happened a few days ago, but I won't go too deep into that. My dad had gotten so sick, that he fainted and hit his head really bad. He got a cut in the middle of his forehead into his skull. He had to get 5 stitches, and got a concussion. Luckily I hadn't gone back to Bergen yet, and I was able to help him get off to the doctor, and get my little sister off to school without "freaking her out". He is doing fine now, and I'm really happy about that. It was all very scary. So right now I have had enough action for a while :P But I am sure there is more to come..:p

Christmas is here!

Finally I feel like Christmas is here :) It's been a hectic few days, and probably a few more to come, but right now I am taking it easy. Sitting by the fire and enjoying the nice warmth :)

Yesterday I decided it was time for us to bake! We baked sand-cookies, German butter-cookies, and we prepared the gingerbread dough. Of course it all had to be lactose and gluten free! That's where the challenge went.
The sand-cookies was an absolute success :) Mostly because it required potato-flour instead of wheat, and no milk. (YAY! :)). The butter-cookies was not sooo much of a success according to my boyfriend, but I thought they were still pretty tasty. The gingerbread dough had to stay overnight, so not much more we could do in that area.

So today, I finished the last of the Christmas shopping. Only thing missing is the Christmas stocking for my boyfriend, and I have 2 more days to complete that task. Just want to find a nice stocking. :) I did search for one today, but that journey was not so much fun. I had bought the last calendar gift for my boyfriend, and left the store without any problem. As soon as I entered a different store, their alarm went off!! On ME. That happened for a total of 3 stores, until a nice lady helped me get off the alarm. I am utterly amazed by the incompetence of the store where the alarm should have gone off in the first place, and didn't.. instead I had to be humiliated several times in different stores.. Why bother to put an alarm on your merchandise if you don't have a detector? Well, as soon as i got the alarm disarmed, everything got better. I got a nice box set for my Christmas cookies, I caught an early bus (it was actually 20 min too late, but for me it was perfect timing). I am good at stumble across things like that. So my day got a lot better again :D

When i got home, i started to prepare a space for our Christmas tree. I had to wait for my boyfriend to get home from work though.. So meanwhile I tried to make a fire. It took me a while, but i managed. (I know how to do it, it just takes a while before the it takes.) After a while my boyfriend called from the city, and while we were talking on the phone, i realized i had to put in another log so the fire wouldn't "die out". As i opened the latch, a burning log fell out! I was covered in glowing coal, and smoke was filling up the room. I quickly got of all the glowing coal, and used two logs to pick up the burning one and throw it back into the fire. I also realized that glowing specks from the wood and hit a broom and the couch, but i quickly got them away as well. So surprisingly not harm done! :D (Besides from my pants be black from ash, and a dirty floor..:P) Must be my lucky day ;). So never talk on the phone while dealing with fire ;).




When my boyfriend came home, i showed him my little mess, and he just thought I was cute ;). He wasn't too worried about my whole little accident (or at least I hope so :)). Then he told me he had a few surprises for me, and I loved them all :D He brought a nice looking dear for decoration, a white, fat, (but sooo cute) Santa, and REAL mistletoe!! I've never had mistletoe before, so I am very intrigued by that :D And it surprised me that the berries are white! I have always thought they were supposed to be red. So right now our mistletoe is hanging over the door as it's supposed to :).

Then we decorated the Christmas tree, and it is so beautiful :) We have colored lights instead white/yellow ones. Must say I am very satisfied with the tree. The baubles are a little bit too small for the tree though, so i think next year I have to make bigger ones, in addition to the small ones:) So little by little I will find my perfect tree ;). But we did a pretty good job for this year :)

(looks a lot better in real life though :)

Then we went to try and make the gingerbread cookies. Well.. that didn't go quuuuuite as planned. I checked the dough this morning, and it was rock hard!! I showed it to my boyfriend a few hours ago, and he couldn't stop laughing :P And it was pretty funny of course. Mission failed!! COMPLETELY failed! We didn't really think it was salvageable, but I thought if we heated it up in the oven for a little, we might be able to roll out the dough. So we did that, and it looked like it would work. My boyfriend managed to roll out the dough, but the dough wasn't doing good at all. Breaking everywhere etc. But he tried, and made a few shapes, and put them in the oven. After 5 minutes, he called me in to the kitchen to show me something. I was not prepared for the sight, and i really laughed out loud. The dough had COMPLETELY melted, and the shapes were no longer shapes.. Just one big FLAT BLOB! So we completely failed on making gingerbread cookies.. For future reference, don't try to make a gingerbread dough gluten free! It does not really work..:P I would put up a picture of it, but we kind of threw it out already, haha. But it was a funny experience though. So tomorrow I am going to get an already made gingerbread dough, (yeah, totally playing it safe :P) and make gingerbread cookies, and try not to eat too many of them, and decorate them nicely. Me and my boyfriend are going to Germany to celebrate Christmas this year with his family, so I (we) wanted to bring them some treats as well:)

I hope you enjoyed my little Christmas story, and of course the pictures :) (if you click on the pictures, you can see them in bigger format:) )

Christmas Preparations

Today I had decided i was going to be very productive. Buy all the last Christmas presents, and buy the last of the Christmas decorations.. Unfortunately that's not exactly how it went. For several days now my throat has been really swollen, and I have had problems swallowing. I have had this problem once before, and then the only thing that helped was Antibiotics (which I hate). And since i really hate doctors, i delayed it until today. But it thought it would be quickly over with. Well.. The medical system here in Bergen is a little more complicated than the system we have in Florø. I am used to that when u need an "emergency" appointment you call in, and then u get an appointment as soon as possible, depending on how big of an emergency. If there is no line, you just come as soon as possible. Well, here in Bergen you can't get an appointment. You just have to show up, and wait for your turn, depending on the severity of your illness/damage. So when I went there, I had to stay 30 minutes in line to be put in the system, and then I had to wait 3 hours to get in. And you never know if you're next or not, so u can't leave. I REALLY wish they had a number system.. So much could be approved there.
Anyways when it was my turn (FINALLY) I figure out nothing is technically wrong with my throat. It seems to be that I have gotten an infection in my body somewhere (a virus), and my body is trying to fight it off. In this process my lymph node in the throat area has swelled up, and giving me difficulties to swallow, and pain. All in all, its supposed to pass on its own.. If not, I have to go back, and theeen take a blood-sample ( really don't wanna do that of course!) and then probably a antibiotic treatment... So i really hope it goes away soon! Really don't like doctors.. :P

So by the time i was done with the doctor, it was already 4pm. And i was supposed to meet 2 of my best friends to exchange Christmas-gifts, and finish the Christmas-shopping before 6pm. Not a lot of time. I managed to get one Christmas present for my friend, exchange the gifts, and then buy a little Christmas decor for the tree.
Now this is the fun part of the day :D I bought little glass bulbs/balls, and I varnished (lakkerte) the insides, let them dry for a little bit, and i pored in glitter. And they look so good!! I love them :D And it was soo easy. (but kind of messy:P). So I am totally going back tomorrow to buy more of them. Going to decorate the whole tree with them! :)
Later today or tomorrow I am going to start making my origami snowflakes, and I'll post pictures of them as well :)

So here are me and my boyfriend's creations: ENJOY :D

These are the four colors I would like my tree to have. My perfect little tree :)

I think they are so beautiful, and they are so colorful and powerful in real life :)

Here we tried to mix to different colors. I like the one to the right better, but I like the pure colored onces a lot better :)

What do you think?? :) Please leave a comment :D

Vertigo: Diagnostics

On my earlier post I tried to roughly explain my illness. Now I will try to go a little deeper into the different illness theories the doctors has had over the years.
First of all, I call my illness "Vertigo". Which all in all just explains my biggest symptom: dizziness.I have had Vertigo for 22 years, and the doctors have never figured out what really has been wrong with me.They have had several theories, but no outcome. When i get dizzy, or have a seizure, my blood-sugar drops really low. Sometimes dangerously low. So the doctors thought I had reverse diabetes, but sadly no. (well, not sadly, because i HATE needles.. which I will probably come back to..) Anyways, at some point my blood-sugar was so low they thought I would end up in a coma. Luckily I didn't. Later on they thought I had a rare type of migraine, but never really did anything about it. So they gave me up.

 When I turned 16 i was regarded as an adult, and they wanted to have a look at my "case" again. So I was in for a lot more tests. This time they thought I had a form of epilepsy, and did a epilepsy test. the outcome was: epilepsy A LIKE registration in the brain. Conclusion: not epilepsy, but they wanted to send me to an epilepsy facility, which we declined. They also thought i could have gotten Lyme disease from a tic, but the blood-results were negative. So yet again no outcome.

When I came back from my trip in February I was so ill we went to the doctors again. This time we went to a private clinic whom went back to the possibility of a special migraine called: Basilar Migraine. Basilar Migraine can give severe vertigo instead of or in addition to a severe headache. Personally this has always been my theory, but since I am in a chronic state of vertigo, I have started to rethink that theory. Can you have chronic migraine, especially this type of migraine? (Because I can get sick from just turning my head too fast). In that case, is it normal to get sick from nothing, small movements, etc?  Where does my blood-sugar add up in all this?

Anyways, I was finally sent to a neurologist (Yeah, they never gave me migraine medicine as a kid, or even a neurologist consult.) The neurologist tested me, and had basically diagnosed me before i stepped through the door. But he did a few tests and it all pointed towards migraine. To this day my official diagnosis is: undefinable migraine, even though he says it points to Basilar Migraine. First he gave me blood-thinners to see if they would help. (they often help prevent migraines, and usually has none or very little side effects). I tried those for 2 months, but nothing changed. So we went back to the neurologist, only this time I got a new neurologist, and he told me there was nothing more they could do for me. Well first of all, that's a load of crap! Which i wish i had told the doctor there and then.. Unfortunately i didn't.. I just took what he told me, and begged for a new appointment, (which I will have in January or February.. hopefully!) and left.. Which i really regret. I feel he could have tried to give me some sort of actual migraine medicine, and see if any of them would help. So to this day i still have the diagnose Undefinable Migraine, and I have yet not taken migraine medicine. And there are sooo many people out there that receive migraine medicine easy as that!! Kind of frustrating.. So the next appointment i will not keep my mouth shut..

In the midst of all this, we (me and my parents) decided to try some more untraditional methods. I went to a TCM specialist (Traditional Chinese Medicine), and he diagnosed me with a liver-weakness from birth.  So for several months now I have been on natural (homeopathic) medicines. I can't tell if they have helped or not, since my healing process all in all has been so slow, but I am sure they have not made it any worse. In addition a lot vitamins of course. A few days ago i started a really big treatment to help my digestive system.You see, around the same time as i started to get really sick, i all of the sudden became very sensitive to lactose, gluten, and finally onions. Only recently i have thought of this intolerance problem as "the root to all evil", aka what started this whole big mess. Since my intolerance has not really gotten any better, I have started to think that's what's keeping me so ill. So right now I am staying away from absolutely everything that contains lactose, gluten and of course all types of onions. The treatment i started a few days ago is to help me fix my stomach, and hopefully help me with my intolerance. And even more, help my vertigo become "livable" again.

Well, I have never had an allergy or an intolerance in my life, which I have always been thankful for. That means going from no allergy/intolerance to several ones is quite an (unpleasant) change.. My best friend (you know who you are ;)) has been going through the same thing as well. She has a lot more to deal with though when it comes to intolerances, and I think mine alone are bad enough! I really admire her for for taking this big change as well as she is. Because it is actually really really hard, especially when all of your favorite food contains those ingredients.. :P But we just have deal with it, and stay positive! Hopefully my intolerances and my friend's will go away one day, and the sooner the better. ;)

That would be an awesome Christmas present^^

Stylish!

So I went to get my hair cut today, and the outcome was really nice!! :) A little shorter than I had expected, but still looks really good. A haircut was long over due to say it like that. I hadn't cut my hair since July (ashamed:P) I went from looking like a cute 16 year old girl (yeah I really look that young..:P) to a "stylish young woman" to say it like that. Finally got some shape into my hair, and now I just hope i can keep it this way :D
Hairdressers make styling your hair look so easy, but it's really  not that easy.. not for me atleast.
So wish me good luck on that! :)