dragon hoard!!!

xmas eve, the day we get to sit around in the living together and spend 4 hours opening presents! yes, when you open presents one by one and watch other people open theirs too, it takes that long XD

this year as usual, we got a sweeet haul. being married means we get abit more gifts as 'to Tina & Stian' instead of individual gifts. But since those are mostly decorative, i think its better that way XD

from Joco this year we got a pair of fun wine cups! its made of plastic, and a click of a button at the underside of the cup changes the stand color XD it has 7 colors to choose from, or just flashes all 7.
then from 'the cats', i got strawberry soap XD when i opened it i turned to yell at the cats jokingly 'do i stink ?!'. but i do like nice smelling soaps. :)
from alex i got a very nice leather wallet, a korean brand based in italy. i told him how there's supposed to be cash in it XD but i got to fill it up very soon, with robert's sister giving me and alex 400 nkr, and grandparents giving us 1k nkr :P i think thats an upgrade for being married, woohoo XD my hubby made the correct decision by telling me to keep the money in my wallet.
from 'santa' we all received socks XD. I actually forgot to take a picture of alex's! bah. his is hilarious because it has the words 'jingle my bells' and a picture of bells on it. it led to a few other jokes this xmas especially since he received an electric shaver from me and jokingly read it out loud as an intimate shaver. all the better to jingle his bells i'm sure. then he got a hilarious pair of boxers from mary and me, that has the words 'swing on my pole' on the crotch XD.

anyway, my sock.
and if you dont believe the sock from santa, you OBVIOUSLY dont know me well V_V

raymond gave me and alex a really cool (and annoying!) gift. its a complex maze with one little metal ball!! its hard enough just to get the metal ball on the maze ! hilde got one from him too, so i guess we'll be spending some hours on it XD
hilde also got me a very nice sweater :D i'm really glad because i'm too cheap to buy my own sweater in norway ( ebay is cheaper :P plus i have something against spending physical cash i think) and i actually need warmer clothes. i have a BAD habit of buying clothes that suit singaporean weather instead. bad habit! i shall take my chances on buying some warmer clothes next week when the post xmas sales hit. 50-70% off. BUY AHHHH

anyway, hilde also has the same sweater XD would be funny if we wore it out together, i'm sure mary would be highly amused!
next, i got a highly amusing gift from mary and robert- a picture of them XD behind it they wrote, after translating, 'from dear mother in law and dear father in law'. this year, they gave us four 'kids' cash as well. raymond's was hidden in a can of peas that was filled with chocolate. hilde's was in a can of pickup sticks XD alex's was hidden in an old game. Mine.. in the back of the picture XD.... so i was the only clueless idiot who totally didnt notice everyone else got cash but me. and everyone had a good laugh when i was like 'O.o huh?? really?!'. but i found it pretty quick so i'm one smart cookie. *modest*
one of the gifts from mary included purple cotton stockings with nice patterns on it :D cant wait to use it, since its a warmer winter i can wear stockings and dresses or mini skirts hohoho
from Lilo, i got a giant kinder egg XD i do love the kinder chocolates, they taste so good! inside it was a xmas themed puzzle.
i also received a luxuriously soft purple bathrobe which i'm wearing right now because its actually warm too XD. ohhhhhhhhh i loooooooooooooooooooove.
robert's sister packed our cash in an interesting card. i really like the birds, just gotta find a nice frame to somehow frame it up now. will need mary's help on that i think
yet another gift from mary and robert! this is probably one of the more useful things i've gotten this xmas. mary confessed that alvin had remarked in summer that this would be useful for me, so she got me one too XD cant wait to test it out, can actually use it as an old school organizer and it even has games XD...
my other gift from alex was a jacket, black of course. the quilting pattern is quite shallow so it doesnt show up that well. i think i will use a biggr belt on it :) finally a jacket that is waterproof :P its been quite rainy so i think i'll be using this more often this year!
i also received another jacket (purple!) from mary and robert. goodness, damn spoiled this year. but mary saw me ooo-ing over this jacket and got it :P . its my only jacket with a hoodie i think XD.... and guess what? its a size -S-. ahhh i'm a size -S- despite all the xmas weight! X)

now to fully understand what 4 hours of unwrapping gifts is, you need to look at the final scene!
voila!

since raymond bought two catnip concentrate fishy toys, xmas eve was spent getting 5 cats high on catnip XD Max was excluded because he wasnt around very much, cleverly hiding off somewhere.

and one of tobias who gets quite ... talkative? whiny? when high on catnip XD.



cant wait for the 27th, Hilde has told us of a christmas shop that is having a 50% storewide sale and it has cupcake ornaments so i HAVE to go! ohhhhh i'm so excited especially since i now have the means to shop abit X) squeeeeee!!!

lastly, there is chances of a hurricane here today. robert says its not dangerous as long as you're not outside. right now the ocean looks like a mess with high waves and strong winds. i get a good view of the ocean from the top floor here hehe. just need to look left while typing.

thats all for now!

CANT WAIT TO GO SHOPPINNNNGGGG

xmas eve blog!

Its finally xmas eve! and its half an hour more before raymond and hilde come so we can open presents. so since i've already snapped a few pictures, i thought it'd be best to do a quick post before i spam all the pics of prezzies! joy!

first of all i have to show my xmas nail design though :P much simpler than all the previous since its just nail polish and a sticker on top hehehe. but the results are still very nice.
then i HAVE to show this super cute pig which mary got from eva in their advent calendar gift exchange. basically they wrapped up 24 gifts to each other XD i really REALLY liked this pig so mary gave it to me :D SO CUTE RIGHT?! i've been wanting a -piggy- bank, and purple + cute =perfect.
so dinner started at 5pm, and we had to get dressed up before that. so here's a pic of me and alex dressed up and ready to eat!

this year's dinner was just the four of us, but still fun enough :D the expression made by robert just looks hilarious here, but shh dont tell. he's not irritated though, just likes 'tsk tsk'-ing me now and then for various reasons XD
during dinner there was a blackout in the area, for about an hour i think? or less? what a way to spend xmas dinner! but it was quite cosy by candlelight :) and when the lights came back on, i got them to all play 5 stones with me! turns out that mary has heard of it, something about her mother having played it before. mary was the best of the three hehe

alex has finally wrapped my gifts, and it looks so cute and happy! i think i shall keep some of the wrapping paper :D
mary decided to let us each open one, but me and alex decided to open a combined gift, which is to us from Eva, mary's sister. the last two years she's given us xmas weird straw animals, the last being a pig which is quite funny in my opinion XD . this year though she gave us something prettier but the price tag was still on XD
now i have to show you my scratchcard. match 3 in the final box to win the amount. in this house, only me and alvin won for that big scratchcard. chances to win is about 1 in 2.5?



and finally, a picture of a wine which tastes very very good with seafood. we had it over a year ago on the Color Fantasy cruise to Germany but i could never remember the name. so alvin take note of this ya.
shall go back to snacking and drinking now, and wait till presents can be opened! i know i've got quite a few gifts this year TEE HEE HEE

pre christmas eve

merry christmas eve! its almost 1am here, i was up scratching the final slot in my scratchcard, but i'll blog about it tomorrow since today's post is titled 'pre christmas eve' XD

it was spent cleaning up the house and going to elnesvaagen to shop abit and deliver a present, then grocery shop to further stuff the already full fridge and freezer! then raymond came to visit and put more happy presents under the tree... and then i did mary's nails again XD the second last xmas design for this year :D
i dont quite get why glitter doesnt show well on pictures taken with my phone, regardless of flash usage. still quite festive since i stick with gold, red and green.

while doing her nails, she ate over 20 daim chocolates. i kid not. see?
every year since i first came here for xmas, i always take a pic of the xmas tree when its bursting with presents XD i think the most exciting part is right before we open presents, when anticipation is at its highest. i do love how a colorful wrapping and ribbon makes an object so exciting and mysterious hehe
i'm not the only one excited about presents though, although this year the excitement isnt quite as high since i know a few presents i'm getting already XD.. check out who's the new present sneak!
yep, its the fatty brothers! raymond bought them an xmas gift this year that is a toy with concentrated catnip essence XD we tested it on almost all the cats. The black and white cats (three of them) sniff, get excited, then try to bite the packet.

lilo sniffs, gets excited, then licks the packet.

the black Flysa sniffs and... doesnt seem to be that excited XD. we didnt try it on max since he wasnt around.

the kittens kept trying to crawl into the bag, poking their heads in and daddy raymond had to keep yanking them away XD
fattybums really wants his present.
lastly, at elnesvaagen i saw something that i thought would be funny for alvin except it had pink on it.
and something else that i thought grace would like , its sleeping clothes that cost almost 50 bucks :P so... dear cousin, if i was richer i'd have gotten it for you, but its the thought that counts la right?
cant wait to open presents in 10 hours or less!! :D

double trouble

Today i was home alone and spent majority of it happily creating little things! just to make a handful of nail polish rings... look at my lovely work area!
if i had a wide angle camera you'd be able to see the boxes of nailpolish and equipment on my left and right too hohoho.

the results were pretty good for a first try, but i should have used more contrasting colors for some. its not too bad when i used flash to take a pic, since it brings out the colors more. each glitter on the cupcake was painstakingly fished out of different nail polish bottles and stuck on :P

mary's favourite is the one at the right bottom corner.
and this is my favourite!!
anyone noticed i have no nail polish on today? hahaha. my nails need the break to not turn yellow. also i planned to make robert's xmas gift today, and its food so i'd rather have my hands as clean as possible.

i bought decorative marzipan... which is basically a block of it thats more maleable and smoother to use i think. but my goodness, its a nightmare.... i have to keep washing my hands after a minute ( i do NOT exaggerate here) of crafting because my hands become so sticky that the marzipan sticks to my fingers too.

i also keep going back and forth from the fridge to make sure the marzipan hardens abit so its easier to handle. however, i'm quite happy with the results although i didnt fill the jar as full as i initially thought i would.
cute right?! hehehehehhe. i made do wth all the colors i had available, which was just yellow, purple, black and red. i should have snapped a side view but i forgot and its wrapped up by now. but i'll take a pic of it when we open gifts at xmas! :D

one more day! woooooot! sadly tomorrow will be an extremely busy day because mary wants the house sparkling clean (although i think this xmas it will be just 4 of us, and raymond and hilde might join to open presents. ). i also think there will be more visitors tomorrow to stuff the xmas tree. so far its overflowing like it was last year XD

home alone!

finally i'm home alone today! WOOOOOO~~~!!

if you dont know by now, i'm a kind of person who needs the occasional day alone. totally alone! without this time i will go stir crazy, have low patience and be quite irritable XD one day alone charges my batteries for quite some time! and considering how there should be abit more socializing than usual the next couple of days, i do need my quality time alone X) aaaaahhhh.

so what do i do during this quality time alone? read manga, blog, make more nail polish rings (my supplies arrived yesterday :D) and make a special marzipan gift for robert for xmas. i aim to start it at 12pm to give me ample time to craft the marzipan with no stress.

a day or so back i did mary's nails again. although her nails arent long in terms white part sticking out of the finger, they are quite long and wide on her fingers which makes it easier to do designs and stuff. again, she really liked it it seems... which makes me wonder what she'll say if i ever do something she dont like?
over at the workplace, two companies sent cake! yay cake! its spongecake inside with double the amount of cream between the layers and very little jam (hoorah). Then its wrapped with a layer of marzipan and decorated. i like the cake and cream (ahh, cream.) but not so much the marzipan. very similar to my wedding cake if you ask me XD

then yesterday me and mary went over to robert's parents house, which is a 5 minute uphill walk from the workplace. grandma had said she didnt want to put up the tree this year and mary declared its not christmas without the christmas tree and volunteered out services XD

so we marched through a thin layer of snow to the house to set up a tree... for the first time in my life i think. it turned out to be really fun, once you're done connecting the sections of the tree and straightening out the branches. once that's done, it looks like... this.

i did almost all the tree decorating myself, getting some help with mary for the top ornament because its fragile glass and i really dont want to break something thats older than i am.
so yay, thats the tree i decorated! when robert arrived he got told that three times by each person in the house wahahaha. as i put the ornaments on, it was interesting to see and get to know how old some of them are. for example, the ornament that goes on top of the tree was from when the grandparents got married i think. you can see below that the paint has come off in some places. its HOLLOW glass btw, so understand why i was really careful with it.

i took a picture of this santa because i thought he looked really old, and although i'm not a big fan of santa figurines and stuff, this one had some appeal to me.
then i told grandma that i'd like something for my future tree from her and mary :P since its the year i got married, i thought it'd be nice to have something to treasure from this point? in short, to just tell some future kid that 'i got this from your grandma/great grandma when me and daddy got married'.

i think, though, that the phrase that humoured grandma into saying 'go take anything from the tree you want' was the statement 'i'd like something to pass on to my future grandkids'. XD but its true though, through such little things.. its a way to remember others in future when they arent there anymore.

i picked one of the oldest ornaments in the tree that mary had been eyeing for a really long time XD.

why? i really liked it. and mary insisted that we wouldnt get another chance like, especially since the ornaments could go to robert's sister instead XD. so what's so special about this one?

this cute little HOLLOW glass house ( i stress it because its so FRAGILE) belonged to grandma's mother's sister who lived some place near oslo. so i guess thats a great grandaunt. i thought that fact was quite cool hehe

ok, think my nail polish rings are dry enough for the next layer now. cant wait to post the results!

molde

Turns out Roseby is Molde's biggest(?) mall. its two stories, decent sized. The only picture i took while in there was of a dog in a pet store cuz he's dressed up XD
Alex bought me wrapping paper and ribbon cuz he wanted to wrap my presents up in something i'd like. so i have cute xmas themed paper i'll take a pic of on xmas day, or when he's done wrapping :D he was my partner in crime in helping delay robert while me and mary went to look for a christmas gift for the latter. alex bought a cute lego starwars shirt for himself since it was on mega sale from 249 to 48nkr. i bought the only thing i really needed... nail polish remover with acetone in it so i can remove the super glue on my finger later -,-

we then went to a large electronics store to get a dvd for raymond, and headphones for alex because his parents cant stand the boom boom pows of battlefield 3. XD the headphones cost a ridiculous 849nkr! i was in shock when i saw the receipt, but mary said she'd gladly pay more for the silence WAHAHAHHAHA

after two hours of shopping that went by really fast, we headed to where raymond and hilde lived. hilde was in a cooking frenzy XD she baked christmas bread and we made almond chocolate thingy while we were there. mainly wanted to use up the almonds.
so she neatly prepares all her stuff in bowls first, unlike me who prefers one bowl (less washing you see.).
first we melt the butter and sugar. the black thing on top is vanilla!
it takes REALLY long to brown.....
once browned, we poured in almonds to cook till it reaches 130 degrees. bur since the thermometer she had goes up only to 100, we did a rough estimate. then we poured it into a pan and sprinkled chocolate on top which melted really fast and had to be evened out.

finally it was topped off with more crushed almonds, then left to cool before being put in the fridge. no idea how it tastes though, i'll have to ask hilde later.
while there we also played Hole in The Wall, a fun game for xbox if you have a kinect. I'd post pictures of alex playing it, but i think if he ever saw he might kill me? XD thankfully he didnt take pictures of me when i played. raymond served up christmas bread with brown cheese and butter. ironically, i hate raisins and brown cheese. but together, those were pretty tasty! alex says its because i was hungry it tasted better. i have to try it again hohoho

today, i completed the gift for mary's mother. its simpler to make compared to the one for robert's mother, but i like how it looks hehe. hope she'll like it.
other than that... not much else to my day, other than running around elnesvagen while mary and alex went to buy him sleeping pills (he's having trouble sleeping at normal times). it was fun because we were rushing rushing rushing. the area is so small and the shops we go to is where mary would frequent when there so we really had to hurry. luckily the pharmacy took long, because later when we met up again they had indeed been to that area of stores to shop hehehe

gonna go crochet a rug now!