Norwegianne.net

Norwegianne.net

  • Mette-Marit’s continued history of ailments

    In 2013, I posted about the Crown Princess’ history of ailments and unfortunate accidents. (Some of you have supplied updates in the comments on that post.)

    Today, she, her husband and her doctor revealed in an interview (as well as in a press release from the court) that she has been diagnosed with chronic pulmonary fibrosis. They haven’t quite figured out more specifics – but she will undergo testing.

    It has been going on for a while, though they did not specify for how long in the interview.

    It is only recently that they have discovered what it is, and since she will require time for hospital appointments – both for further clarification and treatment – and have low points in her health – they have decided to share rather than have her absent without a specific reason. The illness is in an early stage.

    In March this year she was hospitalized – and had to cancel the attendance at the book fair in Leipzig.

    In November 2017 – she got benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

    In December 2016 – she got pneumonia.

    Autumn 2015 – she was advised by her doctor to cancel the trip to Brazil because of frequent infections of the airways.

  • Notebooks

    Notebooks

    I’m addicted to notebooks. I buy more of them than I really need. Mostly in the hope that I will get back into writing more again.

    Today I pulled one out at a meeting. I filled the page. And when I turned it, I discovered the start of a story idea.

    I wonder if that will ever amount to something more.

  • Roasting vegetables for soup

    Roasting vegetables for soup

    I bought a new freezer the other day – and currently I seem to be doing my best to fill it up.

    The other day I made sweet potato and carrot soup. Today, parsnip, tomatoes and onions are roasting in the oven – and I am waiting to make stock and blend. And then freeze.

    I also bought stuff to make chili and lasagna to freeze – but I might end up freezing the mince and bacon solo and then dealing with that bit later.

    I generally freeze in portion size – flat – so it is easy to defrost when I need it.

    It’s been a while since I did this and autumn seems like the perfect time to start again.

  • I curl up in bed

    I curl up in bed

    aches, pains and all, and wonder what is wrong with me. I check the calendar – and it is hormones cycling around like crazy. And a time I generally try to stay as zen as possible because any major issues can throw it all out of balance.

    But:

    Real life is full of stress.

    And at this particular time also nice things add to the stress and hormones and depression and anxiety.

    Also, sniffles.

  • Three books that are waiting for me to be read

    Three books that are waiting for me to be read

    Still stressed out. New week. Same old stress. It got slightly better and then *boom*.

    So, I’m going to try to avoid it. How? By burrowing down with books. Because that will not solve anything but at the very least it might give me a respite.

    Here are five three books that I have physically and am going to read:

    The Curse of the boyfriend sweater is the first one. I brought this one with me on a weekend getaway trip, but ended up reading the other one on knitting I had first.

    – Let me flee into the lives of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Well, probably not – but for escape a couple of hours, sure. I liked Debbie Reynolds’ biography better than Fisher’s princess book, so it will be interesting to see where this may fall.

    The secret lives of colors. I’m fascinated by the concept, and I can think of at least a couple of other people who will be, too.

    Originally, it was going to be five. I have more than five. But I figured along the way that I should rather actually read a couple first. Then I can build on that for next month/week/whatever.

  • Stress

    Stress

    One of the triggers for my health issues, is, surprise – surprise, stressful situations or situations that send my mind into overdrive and I stress about. Mostly this is at certain points during the hormonal cycle, where everything seems more stressful and energy-sapping than usual. And my skin feels thinner and I take everything more personally than other people might.

    Because I have a particular hormonal disorder, I cannot necessarily know in advance when the physical impact will hit the hardest.

    It is also very difficult to plan stressful situations.

    It can be everything from an email I read, to a particular situation, to just basically existing and having to go somewhere. Or having to leave the bed on particular bad days.

    Fortunately the bad days have become quite far between, but they’re still here. Often enough to remind me that I should not take on too much. Often enough to keep me looking for a different job, a different house, a different life at times. And yet, I am happy. I am satisfied. I just bloody wish I had all the energy to trudge ahead and not let the stressful situations get to me so much.

  • Royalty

    Royalty

    I was talking to someone on Tumblr the other day about the special project with royal biographies, we did over at The Royal Forums when the Norwegian monarchy turned 100.

    That was in 2005. I suddenly realised that that is 13 years ago. People are on the Internet now, joining social media (legally), who were babies when I was writing out a lot of those profiles.

    I think I have run the whole gamut when it comes to royalty as a hobby, but in the later years, it has kind of changed. The royal blogging of it – to run a successful royal blog, you do rather need pictures and an insane amount of time, petered out as life happened with studies, and later full time employment. And as for being a participant in the fora discussions…

    I’m still interested. I’m still following some Tumblrs. I’m in a Facebook group with some lovely people I’ve met on the fora over the years and do a bit of commenting. I still read a ton of royal biographies, which I will try to review.

    But in general, I think it is a matter of… learning that how much I think someone should dress differently, or act differently, it won’t matter any little bit what I say in a comment on the Internet, and I am only setting myself up for a lot of frustration if I think otherwise.

    Ironically, written as a blog post, but there you go.

  • 35

    35

    It’s my birthday. I’m going to be the cliché and say that the years really do pass faster as I’m getting older.

    35, but don’t really feel it. My boss had to check the employment records yesterday to see if the birthday list in our break room was correct – so I guess I don’t act it either?

    Anyway, on to a new year.

  • Bubble tea at home

    Bubble tea at home

    I have such a weakness for bubble tea that I walked an insane amount on holiday to get it. Multiple times. In multiple cities.

    And so, I had to try to make it myself. Today the tapioca pearls arrived in the mail.

    I followed the mix of the recipe from the vendor and this one.

    Because I am also crazy about passion fruit flavoured tea (and my favourite Danish chain of coffee shops have stopped selling it) – I used a passion fruit syrup instead of the almond syrup. Next time, I’ll probably also go for passion fruit flavoured tea, instead of the Yellow label Black tea this time.

    Current mode: sitting in the shade, feeling the warm breeze and sipping on my bubble tea.

    Even though I’m working the rest of summer, this is a pretty nice holiday throwback.