28 Day Detox Report # 6

Last detox report! 
I found myself petering out this past week. This might in part have been due to not feeling totally well. It started during the first night shift. I felt queasy all night. Then when I still didn't feel "right" after sleeping all day, I called in sick. I didn't have vomiting or diarrhea, nor really a fever, though  my temperature was elevated. But my body felt like lead and I just couldn't face a 10 hour night shift feeling like shit. The next day my hospital made headlines again. It seems a stomach bug has caused chaos and the hospital was again full to the brim, with 40 patients in corridors and the physical therapy gym being used as an overflow ward! I figure it was good I didn't go to work that night. I was probably contagious. Also proved to me that my immune system is still up and running, when queasiness and a slightly elevated temperature is all I get from a stomach bug that is filling up the hospital.

Being under the weather though, is what got me petering out. For example, I ate a bag of Thai shrimp chips when I was shopping on Saturday, though I'm not supposed to have meat or seafood until monday. :(  I didn't have the energy for iron self disipline. Anyhow, on one hand I am looking forward to getting back to normal life. On the other, I am thinking about which aspects of this detox month I would like to carry on into that normal life. So here is a list of what I intend to carry over.

• Sun salutation each morning
• Skin brushing before shower.
• aroma steam before bed. 
• planning my day before work.
• yoga on work days (when I don't have time to go to the gym)
• oil and salt scrub once a week.
• swimming, sauna, and hot tub once a week. 

The whole commute by train thing didn't work out very well. There was one week when I took the train each day. It was great. I could write letters, do some inspirational reading, and plan my day while on the train. Unfortunatly the rest of the month I ended up driving. On weekends and day shifts I have to drive because the train schedule doesn't fit. The other times the trains were delayed so that I ended up driving in order to get to work on time. This last week I finally started listening to an audio book that I had been planning to work on during this detox month: "the 7 habits of highly successfull people". 

• Work on "The 7 habits of Highly Successfull People".
• Read the "medical lectures" by Rudolf Steiner
• Continue to focus on detoxing and decluttering my home environment.

Exercise. I haven't had the energy for strenuous exercise the past 3 weeks. That has got to change. I managed to lose 3 kg during this detox. If I am to have any hope of keeping them off as I return to a normal diet, I must exercise more. The plan is to increase to 45 minute cycling classes on my days off, except for when I go swimming and sundays when I want to do Pilates. Or skiing when that is possible.

I don't think I will change my normal diet very much. The main points will be:

• avvoid sugar except on weekends
• avvoid artificial additives.
• eat organic whenever possible
• eat only free range or organic meat and eggs.
• eat more fish
• use raw untreated milk (hurray, we live on a farm)
• consume less caffeine. 
• continue with daily green smoothies, salad with every dinner, veggies or dried fruit for snacks.
• continue to drink 1-2 L water daily. 

I sure am looking forward to having chocolate again!

28 day detox report: #5

For the past 3 days I've been doing the true purifying diet: liver flush in the morning, fasting on liquids until lunch, then fruit and veg during the afternoon/evening. Since I had evening shifts each day it went something like this: a fruit salad during report at the start of the shift; leftovers from lunch and a fruit smoothie during my dinner break; carrot sticks, sweet pepper slices, sweet cherry tomatoes and black grapes on the way home; and soaked dried fruits (prunes, apricots and figs) before going to bed around midnight.  

One thing I have discovered through fasting and restricting my diet, is an enhanced enjoyment of food. I love fruit and vegetables, and I look forward to cheese, yogurt, milk in my tea, and coffee before the night shifts next week. I'm also looking forward to fish, meat and chocolate in the more distant future.

The end is in sight. Only one more week to go. During this week I return to a vegetarian diet that includes dairy and eggs. I will continue the exercise regime and skin care regime of the past 3 weeks. My focus for the week will be an evaluation of the whole detox. What aspects of diet and  skin care do I want to carry over into my regular life? What about the decluttering, the organizing of my goals and inner life? What about exercise? 

28 day detox report: #4

This week I am doing the purifying diet of Dr Stone, known for Polarity Therapy. You start the day with Liver Flush juice, followed by peppermint tea. Then only liquids until lunch, after which you can eat anything except: caffeine, alkohol, sugar, fried foods, meat, fish, eggs, dairy and starches. "What does that leave?" a colleague at work wondered when I was telling him about the diet. Amazingly it leaves quite a lot: baked sweet potatoes, grilled vegetables with olive oil, soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds. Root salad of grated raw red beet, carrot and apple, with lemon juice, raisins, walnuts, pomogranite seeds and lemon balm leaf. Fruit salad. Vegetable snacks. Soaked dried fruit snacks. Fresh fruit snacks.  Green smoothies, fruit smoothie with coconut milk... Sounds yummy doesn't it? doesn't it? - it is!

I also added 2 days of liquids only fasting: Monday and Thursday. Not clear liquids though, I allowed myself a green smoothie and a fruit smoothie each, in addition to the herb teas and veggie + apple juice. Surprisingly I have not been particularly hungry on these fasting days. I have a bit of a headache, and feel a little lethargic. Not really up for a lot of strenuous activity. However on both days I walked the dog, did yoga, did some house cleaning, went shopping and today I also went swimming. In today's hot tub on the roof experience I come out onto the roof, into minus 7 degrees C, feeling the ice cold air on my wet skin. Then deliberatly step into the bubbling hot tub, and stretch out in the water, under a clear blue sky, finding the position that will let the sun shine onto my face. Bliss!

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked during the day, so skipped the liver flush, and just had hot water with a lemon squeezed into it. And obviously had breakfast (fruit salad). This weekend, when I'm working the evening shift I will try to follow the purifying diet properly. Also missed both yoga and meditation the past 2 days. They were on my plan for the day, but as usual, once I've had dinner I sort of peter out. I don't know if it's because of getting up at 5 or that I am more of a morning person than an evening person, but it happens to me every time I have a day shift. Once I'm home and dinner is cooked and eaten I just deflate and am worthless for the rest of the day. 

28 day detox report #3

For those of you who are bored out of their minds by these detox posts, hang in there, in two weeks it'll be over. I've arrived at the end of week two. Half way through the detox program, the most intense week is the one to come. 

This week went pretty well, though after a week on a vegan diet, I am wondering how my vegan daughter has held out for nigh on 2 years! I crave cheese, butter, milk in my tea. Husband is also tired of the vegetarian and vegan fare and threatened a revolt if he didn't get any meat. So this weekend we're having pasta with veggie sauce and grated root salad and while I'm making him fried chicken and steak on the side. 

I had a diet blip this week as well. On Wednesday, while I was on my way to swimming, I got a call from work asking me to come in for the night shift instead of Thursday’s day shift. So I had a coffee before work, thus imbibing 3 forbidden substances in one fell swoop: caffeine, dairy and sugar. However I rationalized it as being for therapeutic purposes, and really, I discovered last summer that I need caffeine to function on the night shift. I had a great night though. Was wide awake for the entire 10 hours. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't restrict my caffeine intake a bit more when this detox is over. For example limiting it to just before work. 

Liver Flush. I introduced it this week, and it is nasty stuff! There are various versions of the  recipe. For the one I am using you squeeze a lemon. Add 3 Tbsp of olive oil, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, and a crushed piece of ginger (about the size of a large garlic clove), blend and drink. You can also squeeze the juice of 1-2 oranges in addition. It makes it marginally more palatable, but there is a lot more of it to get down. I still haven't decided if I prefer it with or without an orange. The first time I took liver flush juice I felt nausous after breakfast so I decided to do some research on it. Turns out you're supposed to follow it with peppermint tea and not eat for at least an hour after. Once I followed those principles, I was fine. 

Exercise: I have been to indoor cycling twice, and to swimming once. Did 12 laps this time - making progress. Once again I had the rooftop hot tub to myself, this time feeling the snow flakes falling onto my face as I luxuriated in the bubbles. New for this week is that I am exploring yoga, starting today with the help of a dvd I got from my youngest daughter. It seems to be made up of several short sessions, and I look forward to working my way through it. 

Not doing as well as I would like as far as getting my life organized. I have managed to meditate every day. Studying greek and dog training has fallen by the wayside. My desk is a mess - again. I haven't gone through any closets. However I have cleaned the bathroom and kitchen more thouroughly than usual, and today we hung pictures. About time too. We've been living here for more than a year, and hadn't hung any pictures until now!. The thing is though, as I limit my diet more and more, I'm finding it harder to be equally strict with how I spend my time. Something has to give! And so I have ended up watching Lord of the Rings, and listening to Game of Thrones, book 5 - which probably explains my lack of studying. 

This coming week will be the most stringent. I plan to follow the purifying diet ( http://www.body-expressions.com/newsletters/newsletter/2565078/24912.htm ) instead of a raw foods diet during this week. Somehow raw foods didn't seem quite compatible with the bitter cold of January. The purifying diet allows baked, grilled and steamed food. Only now starches, such as grains, pulses, corn or potatoes. Two days I plan to do a liquids only fast, within the restrictions of the purifying diet. I have a spa treatment planned on Monday, and swimming on Thursday, and on the weekend I want to continue with yoga. 

28 day detox report #2

Detoxing while working actually went okay. I pretty much do all the juices in the morning (I had evening shifts), then drink the 2 liters of water during the comute to and from and during the work day. Giving up sugar (candy, cake etc) hasn't been difficult, even though it is available at work as a compliment to how hard we are working.  What I really find myself craving is caffeine. I just feel so tired and slow - a "pick me up" before work would do wonders, but I remain strong. 
A bit of a challenge was when we went out to eat on Saturday. The restaurant had little in the way of vegetarian options. Unfortunatly I had already ordered miso soup (which was delicious) and fried noodles with vegetables, this last was made with a fish sauce, before I realized that I could have done vegetarian sushi for the main dish. It was such a cold day, that I didn't think of the sushi alternative before it was too late, though the hot miso soup would have been fine with it. During the movie, though I was fine eating almonds and dried fruit while husband had chocolate covered popcorn. It is interesting to observe my own feelings during this cleanse. 

Exercising became a bit difficult on workdays. I started out okay with a 30 minute Pilates gymball session in the morning before my first shift, but when by the second and third morning after getting up an hour and a half later and still not getting enough sleep (I don't get to bed until 00:30 after evening shifts), I just totally forgot about exercising. The prescribed hourly stretch during the workday is also proving difficult. There is just no way to fit it in during our hectic work days. I was able to manage about twice each day, and I do notice when I stretch, how tense I really am. However over the weekend I was back to the gym, once for cycling and once for a pilates class. 

Friday I tried a salt rub before my shower. What it is, is you rub salt into your skin, ideally before a bath, though as I mentioned before, we have no bathtub. I thought it would dry out the skin, but I found the skin to be exeptionally soft and smooth after that shower. 

Denying myself favorite foods is one thing. Denying myself novels, audio books etc is another and more difficult exercise. By Sunday I was so tired of being organized and structured that I allowed myself a day of indulgence. I watched "the Two Towers" instead of the housework I had planned. Well, maybe one needs to just relax sometimes too. 

Next week I intensify the detox by giving up eggs and dairy, and adding the liver flush. 

28 Day Detox report #1

I started the 28 day detox program as planned on Monday.
 Why detox in January, one might ask. 

1. I hope for a slimming effect
2. It seems a good time of year to "reformat" various aspects of life, to take a step away, reflect, try out some things with an eye to developing them into habits if I like them. 

This program is very comprehensive as it targets both body and mind. 

So I started on monday by giving up caffeine, chocolate, black and green tea, sugar, refined grains, meat and fish. 

A lemon squeezed into a mug of hot water with honey replaces my morning coffee. 

Ginger tea replaces my evening cocao. Herb teas replace black and green tea during the day. Otherwise I eat pretty much as before, though vegetarian obviously - we never eat much meat anyway, so it's no hardship. I continue to make a green smoothie every morning and have added a glass of vegetable juice each afternoon. Helios makes a delicious organic vegetable juice containing primarily redbeet, carrot and sellery, but flavored with acerola and lemon juice. It is quite lovely!

The only part of the bathing regime that I can follow is skin brushing morning and evening. I bought myself a brush for this purpose. It's supposed to stimulate the lymph system, and is actually quite nice, making the skin feel all warm, tingly and alive. I've also started doing an aromatherapy steam before bedtime.  Since I don't have a bathtub, and thus can't do all the various baths I have decided to go to the pool once a week for swimming, hot tub and sauna. I went yesterday. First I bought myself a new swimsuit, and a clipp card. I am a weak swimmer and have never tried to swim for exercise. This time I headed straight to the lap pool, and did 8 laps, 2 in breast stroke, 2 crawl, 2 side stroke and 2 back stroke. I had to rest at the end of each lap to catch my breath. Honestly, I had no idea that swimming was so strenuous. Afterward the muscles ached in my arms, legs and back! 

After swimming I lay in the hot tub on the roof. It was wonderful to lie there, being gently massaged by the bubbles, while watching birds fly by overhead. I ended my pool visit with 10 minutes - all I can stand - in the sauna, before showering and rubbing massage oil into my skin. The Weleda calendula massage oil has such a fresh sitrusy smell!

So I've mentioned swimming as part of the exercise regime. I start the day with the sun salutation, a yoga exercise. Besides swimming once a week, I've been doing pilates, and on the weekend I'll probably go to the gym for cycling. Regular exercise is part of the program, and I haven't exercised since November. 

Then there is the mind detox part. I am trying to organize my day, with the help of Google Calendar. Making time for daily meditation. Starting to practice mindfullness. I wasn't aware that I was multitasking so much. I listen to audio books or the radio while driving, doing housework or walking the dog. I read while eating. Always I seem to have half my mind on other things than what I am actually about. So during this program I have put away my novels and audio books and will try to practice mindfullness, at least in some situations.

For the next few days I am working and so will have to adjust the detox program to my work schedule. Hope it works out. 

Flying start

The new year is beginning to reveal itself. I had such a great first day. Started on all of my resolutions: did some pilates, learned som Greek, listened to a dog training video, did my meditations, made New Years Dinner etc. Then, yesterday I had my first day at work. A day shift. 2 travellers and 2 new nurses had their first day – Welcome to the Madhouse! We were shorthanded, only 8 or 9 nurses on the floor, as 3 were out sick and a fourth went home early, also sick. So instead of the usual teams, four of us were teamed up with the new arrivals pluss I had my student. One of the aides came in even though she was sick to order supplies, and then go home and back to bed. She was still there by end of shift. Our supplies were in a state of chaos after the Christmas Holiday and we had run out of everything. There were 20 patients in the ER when the shift began at 7:30. By 9 am there were 30, by 1 pm 50, at 2 pm there were 60 patients.

How can one day exhaust me so much! I was a wreck when I came home. Unable to enjoy our visit with our neighbor and Husbands closest coworker to whom we were invited for supper. And now, I wonder if I will be able to enjoy my day off. When I awoke this morning, I just wanted to turn over and go back to sleep.

I did drag myself out of bed at 6:45. When I went out with Lucy to get the paper at 8 am, I found that it had snowed in the night. A soft white layer to soften and brighten the night. Our house looked so cozy as I wandered back up the driveway, with the christmas tree and star still glowing in the windows, smoke rising from the chimney. Perhaps I will be able to take hold of the day after all. 

...the New Year it is Enteréd!

(the title refers to the same song as in the last post).

It was too foggy last night to see the fireworks, though we could hear the bangs and pops all around as 2013 was greeted. Lucy crawled under the bed. When all was quiet I reached under, grabbed her by the scruff and pulled her back out, upon which she curled up in her dog bed and slept the rest of the night. Silly dog!
This first day of the New Year the clouds have gone, the sky is clear and bright!

New Years Resolutions, that is what this post is supposed to be about. 
My primary resolution is to be a better correspondent - by phone, skype and email. Since the internet keeping in touch with loved ones has become so much cheaper and simpler and yet I become more and more lazy. Back in the day I used to correspond regularly with about 30 different friends and family members, writing a letter every day. Since starting to work outside the home, my correspondance has shriveled up. THAT HAS GOT TO CHANGE!

My agility goal for 2013 is to run at least one fault-free course. Other goals for Lucy are to be able to recall her from anything so that she can run loose around the farm, and to take her on her first plane trip. 

My health goal is in January to do a 28 day detox. The program I will be following is comprehensive in that it is aimed at detoxing not only the body but also the mind. The body detox targets not only on the liver and kidneys through diet, but the lungs, lymph and skin as well through breathing exercises, skin brushing, baths, massage, and body wraps that promote sweating. This detox plan also focuses on the mind, through reflection, meditation, mindfullness, and decluttering of ones living and work space. Exercise is also a vital part of the plan, in the form of yoga, pilates, aerobic exercise etc. Exercise not only promotes the body's detox by getting the blood moving, it also promotes the detox of the mind. 

Since we are buying a house in Crete another resolution for 2013 is to learn Greek. 

So it looks like I have got my work cut out for me: correspondance, dog training, detox and Greek. 

The Old Year Now Away is Fled...

Thus begins a new years song to the tune of «Greensleeves».

January/February:

Having moved just before Christmas, the first months of 2012 were spent adjusting to a new home, new neighbors, a new job for Husband, a new road to work for me, and exploring the immediate surroundings on walks with the dogs. Father-in-law came to visit and see our new home as well as introduce husband to relatives living in the area.

On January 24th my ex, the children's father died of cancer, and the children came for the funeral and stayed with us, the girls from England, Tormod from Texas. Audun and Annina were caught up in the planning of the funeral etc but came for a weekend at the end of February. It was a painful time for them, but awfully good to see them and to be allowed to share in their grief. Though I had little contact with their father in the last years, the time I shared with him were among the most important years of my adult life.

March:

At the end of March we all gathered in New York for the 160^th birthday – Mother's 80^th, Ilian's 50^th, and Beren's 30^th. We came trickling in during the course of a week. Roland was already there when we arrived and the first project that he and Husband plunged into was installing the dishwasher that Roland and Mother had ordered the day before. We had several meetings at Ithaca bakery during the week to greet first Audun, then Irene and Ingvild, and finally Sharon. The big day was celebrated on March 31^st as a typical Willwerth event: starting with a waffle breakfast as people arrived: first Beren with Audun, Irene, Ingvild and Crystal; later Adam and Jane with Hanna and Ben. I love standing there baking waffles and listening to the happy banter of the cousins sitting around the kitchen, while the older folks visited in the living room. In the afternoon we had a lasagne dinner all together before going to the concert of German Lieder from the Romantic period that Mother had sponsored for the occasion. We had hoped that Ilian would make it in time for the dinner, but her flight had been rerouted due to bad weather and she landed in Syracuse, and hour away, and a couple hours late, instead of Ithaca. Luckily she got a ride with someone and only missed the first song of the concert. We had a longer visit with her the next day, before leaving the day after that.

April:

Spring was early this year. Already February had seen unseasonably mild weather and all the snow melted off. Still it took ages before it was dry enough for spring planting. Meantime Husband and I built planting boxes, but couldn't fill them with compost before it was possible to drive the tractor onto the fields. And that turned out to be May.

In the meantime however I ran some orienteering races, running for our new club: Moss OK. Norwegian Spring was fun! Finally we lived close enough to the venue to take part. It is the first major event in the spring and kind of kick starts the season.

May: a month of holidays and celebrations.

May 1 – the first agility trial of the year. I had concentrating on foundation training since the debaucle of the midsummer trial at Stav where Lucy took walked off the course to sniff the grass after 2 jumps. In fact I had done zero agility training until April when I started training with 2 jumps and some weave poles here on the farm. The only actual agility training with equipment was the last 2 mondays before the trial when there was suddenly room for me at the club's training evenings. And the foundation training paid off: though we disqualified on the agility course, she placed 37^th (of 70) in the jumpers course, thus meeting my goal for the year on our first trial: namely to complete a course without disqualifying.

On the first weekend of May I drove to Trondheim with Lucy to visit Audun and Annina. I had been too late ordering train tickets to get a ticket for Lucy - the places reserved for dogs being limited – so I drove the whole way. We had a great time. Went with Audun to the indoor pool: pirbadet, and out to eat in the revolving restaurant atop a radio tower.

May 17, Norway's national holiday. I joined other members of the agility club for an informal trial and bbq. It was the most fun I've had on May 17^th in years! Hope they do it again next year.

My birthday, May 22 we went out to eat at my favorite sushi place, and then to a movie, though I don't remember what we saw. The day was otherwise a bit of a flop, as I spent a lot of time waiting for the phone or skype to ring, but recieving no calls from friends or family that day. However Audun and Annina gave me Carcasonne which started a new era of game playing in our household.

Our wedding anniversary is also in May, and we celebrated it with italian ice cream at «La dolce Vita» and a show (Lillebjørn Nilsen songs) at the Oslo New Theatre.

Whitsun weekend at the end of May was a hot and sunny weekend with an agility trial at a stone quarry on the outskirts of Oslo on Saturday and Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend. Lucy did well, on saturday we reached my new goal of completing both the agility and the jumpers courses without disqualifying (20^th and 25^th place of about 50). On sunday she disqualified both courses, though the second was her best run: she began to run off course and I when I called her back she reacted so immediatly that she knocked over the long jump thus disqualifying. Still I was hugely satisfied with her reaction and we took the rest of the course perfectly, only having to restart the weavepoles twice and going through the collapsed tunnel without hesitation.

June:

I planted my boxes with onions and carrots; corn, beans and sunflowers; broccoli, kale, lavatera and cornflowers; turnips, radishes, spinach, lettuce; and 8 zucchini plants on the piles of compost that were left over after filling the boxes. This became the best veggie garden I have ever had. I used up all my old seeds. The only thing I bought was the broccoli and kale plants, the onion sets and carrot seeds.

Ingvild came for a visit and we went on some of the walks that Husband and I had explored in May: Slottåsen and Gaupesteinen.

For the midsummer weekend we went to Beitostølen to the Orienteering Festival there. We stayed in one of MaryAnn and Nils' summer farms, had a nice visit with them. Received a visit from Father-in-law and his new lady friend, and ran 3 wonderful and challenging races. Actually I didn't really like the first one, which went through a “cabin town”, but the second which was above the tree line, and the third in a challenging forest area were fun!

July:

Irene visited in July. We explored the oldtidsveien together. A road along which can be found stone carvings, stone circles and other prehistoric monuments.

We also said goodbye to Topsy, our border collie companion of 12 years this month. She seemed to be in more pain, and was already taking a maximum dose of pain medication + special food and joint supplements.

Shortly afterwards, I took a sheep herding course with Lucy. The main goal was to improve her self confidence. It was amazing to see Lucy going from having to be dragged into the pen to lying down relaxing with the sheep. Then, when they moved around, getting up to keep them between herself and me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

August:

I did a 5 day cleanse while we were at the summer farm at the mountain lake in Valdres. Surprised both myself and Husband with my determination and persistance. Although, I have to say it wasn't a total success. You always hear that fasting makes you feel so full of energy. It didn't do that for me, on the contrary, it took weeks before I had my energy back.

At the agility trial in August, Lucy placed in 3 of 4 courses with a 10^th, a 9^th and a 5^th place. We actually brought home prizes, something I hadn't even dreamt we would achieve this year.

September:

After the last trial I decided we had to work on our weave poles. Lucy's course faults are always in the weavepoles, and that's also where she loses the most time. It all paid off when she got a third place in the Trial our club hosted in September, with no course faults and only 5 seconds time fault. It was the first time that she completed the weave poles on the first try in both runs.

The 8 zucchini plants started bearing fruit in august. We gave zucchini to our neighbors, and to anyone coming to visit. I made zucchini cake, zucchini hummous as a dip for vegetables and we had zucchini for dinner every day for 3 months.

The hospital where I work has been in the news daily, since a report by the surgeon general was made public about the critical state of things during the first 9 months of 2011. Apparently at least 9 people lost their lives as a consequence of insufficient staffing. The media however make it sound like it is happening right now. People are worried, family members are suspicious. One patient asked a colleague of mine: “tell it to me straight, what are my chances of surviving the first 24 hours here”!

October:
As the days became shorter and the weather rainy the farmyard, fields and even woods became a sea of mud. Actually it had been an exceptionally rainy spring which is why spring planting wasn't finished until the end of May. Everyone had complained about the rainy summer as well. To tell the truth, I kind of expect rain in Norway in the summer, nor do I expect much in the way of heat. It really didn't get to me though until the fall, when the combination of grey, wet, mud and dark plunged me into the worst case of S.A.D. I have yet experienced. I've said it for years: I must get out of Norway in the winter! So when we went to Crete on vacation we took a day to rent a car and look at some properties.

The week in Crete was a respite, an island of summer: 30 degrees C, sunshine, warm ocean. We visited Chania, took a boat trip around an island on which the Krikri goats live and where octopuses live in the water. We explored cretian cuisine. 

I also spent a weekend with Ingvild in London. She took me to a food market and Camden Lock market. We went to see a Musical (Scrooge) and the newest James Bond movie.

November:

At work I have a second year nursing student. It is a lot of fun, though exhausting, and I find I love teaching!

Audun, Annina and Mother came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. It rained the whole time, but we played multiple games of Carcasonne and went swimming at the indoor pool.

I also returned to Crete to start the purchase process for one of the houses we had looked at.

December:

After the bad press had died down my hospital is back in the news. Several wards have sent letters of concern to the surgeon general because the hospital is overfull and understaffed. The corridors are full. One day there were 90 more patients than the hospital could take care of. The ER is critically full (40+ patients at any one time) more often than not. We have 130 to 160 patients coming through the ER daily. The staff is getting tired. More and more are ill. And it's not just the flu. Young nurses, in their 20's and 30's are getting chest pain, palpitations, syncope or brain hemorage. The situation is worrying.

During Advent I spent all of my days off baking, and preparing for christmas. We visited the in-laws in Folldal for a few days during the 3^rd week of advent. On the friday before christmas we went to hear the Oslo Gospel Choir's Christmas concert. Other than that we had a quiet christmas, with just the two of us. I had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas day and boxing day. Husband had to work a good bit as well. All the kids were in the US to celebrate Christmas with my mother. I talked to everyone on Skype on the 23^rd and again on the phone on the 24^th. Though I couldn't be there, my thoughts kept reaching out to them. I know that as I write this, they are all gathering in NYC to celebrate New Years Eve there, while Husband and I went orienteering this afternoon, and are watching movies at home.

Happy New Year!!!

Deck the Halls...

The Christmas Sheaf is full of sparrows

The front door is decorated with a felt heart for Christmas Welcome.

The Christmas Star lights up our window from Advent through Epiphany.

Christmas Gnomes

The Creche

Christmas Spirit

Left to right at rear: vannkringler, hutzelbrot, kransekake, pjalt
Foreground: fylte kjeks, siruptynnkake, kokosmakroner, sjokoladehjerter, kanelstjerner, krumkaker, lebkuchen.

Some of the the things that put me in the mood for Christmas:

•  Snow obviously. Wading through drifts of it while walking the dog. The branches of the trees lined with snow, 
• Driving home from work in the dark past houses decorated with christmas lights.
• The christmas concert that Husband and I go to each year. 
• And most of all baking while listening to and singing Christmas Carols.

Oddly christmas shopping does nothing for me, in spite of the shopping centers best efforts with decorations and Christmas muzak. The atmosphere is too comercial, and christmas doesn't really come alive there. Though I love the fact that you can get stuff that is impossible to find at other times of the year.  It is more the planning and wrapping of christmas gifts that add to christmas Spirit.

I worked the evening shift this christmas: 3 to 10:30 pm. To my surprise the mood in the ER was festive and full of good cheer. The TV was playing christmas cartoons (Tom and Jerry) when we arrived and christmas music as the evening progressed. One of the nurses wore a Santa hat. Others had christmas pins on their uniforms. The hospital had provided a Christmas plate for our supper. There were gifts from our managers. We all had brought gifts to play secret santa. Many had written words of encouragement and appreciation on the card. There were not too many patients either, so that we had time to eat and exchange gifts in between working.  After the chaos of the last weeks there was a feeling of solidarity and fellowship, the feeling that we are doing our best for our patients in a trying situation.  

Aknowledgements: Husband baked the pjalt and krumkaker. The kransekake is courtesy of husband's aunt. The rest were made by yours truly...

Gift Giving

I originally wrote this post in answer to a couple of blog posts I had read decrying gift giving as materialistic, and thus not in the true spirit of Christmas.

I think gifts are an important Christmas tradition. In a world that focuses more and more on self-fullfillment, treating yourself, rewarding your self etc, a festival dedicated to giving to others creates an important balance. I get that commercialism, and materialism are forces trying to take the joy out of gift giving. Just as the constant pleas by various charitable organisations make you want to turn your back and run. However there is a challenge here to take back gift giving and make it something meaningful!

Gift giving is central to the Christmas story: in the gospel the 3 kings come bearing gifts worthy of kings and priests to the baby Jesus: gold, frankincense. In medieval Christmas plays, the shepherds bring gifts of flour, milk and a lamb. There are christmas carols and poems as well that take up the theme of gift giving: the little drummer boy, giving of his talent – which is playing for the baby.

The recurring theme is giving of what one has. The rich give rich gifts. The poor give gifts according to their means. Those that have nothing can still give of their talents.

The second theme is that the gifts are being offered to the Christ Child himself. How does this translate into giving gifts to loved ones or to charity?

In the gospel of St. Matthew (25:34-40) Christ teaches as follows: Then shall the King say unto them...For I was hungry and ye gave me food: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Gift giving brings up a lot of questions and feelings. If I give a gift to someone who does not give me a gift, will they feel obligated? If someone from whom I could normally expect gifts never gives me one, does it make me feel that the gift I give is undeserved? Am I giving a gift purely because it is expected of me, or do I have joy in the giving? Nothing takes the joy out of gift giving so much as the feeling that the person you are giving to feels uncomfortable by, or ungrateful for your gift.

Receiving gifts is as much a challenge in these modern times as giving gifts. We feel most comfortable in a commercial relationship where things and services are exchanged according to clear agreements and contracts. Gift giving muddies the waters. When you receive a gift, it sparks a desire to reciprocate. Giving and receiving gifts brings something personal into a relationship that is not regulated by contract. Gifts are often things, but anything you give of your self, out of your own initiative is a gift.

In her poem: In the Bleak Midwinter Christina Rosetti says:

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would give a lamb.

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

Yet what I can I give him, give my heart!

Merry Christmas!

Crazy Busy

The week since I returned from Crete has been wild. I have been struggling to stay afloat.

The trip home was exhausting: Got up at 5:30 to get the 6:15 bus for the 75 minute trip to the airport in Iraklio. After a short plane ride I had a 4 hour layover in Athens, and then another 4 hour layover in Frankfurt before my last flight to Oslo. The airport in Frankfurt is HUGE! I took us several minutes just to fly over it! In Oslo I had to scrape 10 cm of ice and snow from the car before driving home, another 90 minutes, arriving at midnight. 

The next evening I was back at work. The ER has been outrageously busy with 30 - 50+ patients in the ER at all times (we only have 28 beds and that is if you fill the observation rooms as well as the acute rooms. We have 15 regular admission rooms. So with that amount of patients, they are filling the waiting room and triage area waiting to be admitted, and lining the halls waiting for beds on the floors. It is a madhouse! We have been understaffed as well. Flu season has begun and staff are out sick just as more we are getting more patients due to the flu. Friday the problem was not so much lack of rooms to admitt patients as lack of staff. Monday we had > 160 patients through the ER.  I feel guilty because every time they ask me to work an extra shift, or stay a few hours longer,  I always say no. But I feel like I'm just barely with it, like it would be unjustifiable to take on more. When I'm this tired, I have trouble hearing when people are talking to me, or the beeper in my pocket. I am able to do my job, but only by narrowing my focus on the task at hand. 

At home I have also had deadlines to meet. It was my turn to give a presentation for sunday evening's anthroposophic meditation/study group (First Class). Monday was the deadline to hand in our schedules for the spring (mid feb to mid june). The deposit for the house in Crete had to be transferred - it took me two tries before I got it right. Then getting access to my bank account in Crete via internet banking took several e-mails and phone calls to the National Bank of Greece. 

The regular household chores of shopping, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and walking the dog seem to take almost all the time that is left. I want to spend time on christmas shopping and baking as well, send packages and write christmas letters, yet I have been so tired! I have had to take a nap here, sleep and extra hour in the morning there. Drink extra cups of coffee during the day, just to make it through the afternoon/evening. Wednesday I had such a headache that I went to bed at 8 pm and slept until 7 am.

I am starting to get my head above water again though. The most important deads have been done. The only thing looming now is an online exam in ACLS before the recertification course on tuesday. It had to be done and passed in advance and I won't have time until tomorrow, but will have to make time then! But I feel I am getting things under controll. I will bake a batch of cookies today. Husband baked some yesterday. I am enjoying advent this year. Last year it was all in boxes, as we were packing up to move on dec 19. Our first aniversary in the new house is looming ahead!

Advent Calendar

When I returned from Crete there was a slip from the post office on my desk announcing the arrival of a package at the post office. That's funny, I thought, I can't remember having ordered anything. 

Husband said he would pick up the package from the post office while I was at work on Thursday, so Friday morning I found this cardboard box with no return adress, but with Norwegian stamps on my desk. More and more peculiar. 

I opened it and inside were 24 small numbered packages and a card from Annina and Audun explaining that this was my advent calendar. The first I've been given in 30 years!

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated thanksgiving with Mother, as well as Audun and Annina. We did it on Monday, as Mother's flight back to the US was on the actual day, and Audun and Annina came on the weekend before. I had arranged to have a whole week off so that I could give my visitors my undevided attention. We had a great time! 

Thanksgiving Dinner was organic turkey, cranberry relish, waldorf salad, bakes sweet potatoes and corn on the cob. The turkey was actually breast and thigh filets that I had gotten at 50% off a couple of weeks before, not realizing that there would be organic whole turkeys in the store only a week later. Still, since organic turkey costs a fortune, I don't regret getting them on sale. The only problem was the stuffing, which is a must in this house, especially for Audun. What I did, was make stuffing ann put it in a casserole dish. Then covered it with the turkey, marinade and corn on the cob - which incidentally was from Thailand - and baked it in the oven. It came out tasting delicious, though a somewhat looser consistency than when it has been packed inside a turkey's belly. For desert we had pumpkin chiffon pie. 

During this visit we also introduced Mother to Carcasonne. I had aquired some new extentions that Audun and Annina didn't know, while the whole game was new to Mother. After Audun and Annina had gone back to Trondheim, Mother and I played twice more, and she became quite enthusiastic about the game.