Second week of Advent

Leaden skies and frozen fog have Hedmark in an iron grip. The thermometer seems stuck at 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrrr.

I spent the week baking for Christmas: Norwegian sandcakes, sandwich cookies and gingerbread, German cinnamon stars, and chocolate heart sandwiches, and of course on St Lucia's day, Swedish Lucia bread, a yeast bread made with saffron and formed into various sun symbols.

Tormod collapsed at work and was admitted to the hospital. Exhaustion apparently. Too much stress, not enough sleep and infrequent and irregular meals. I'm worried about him. Hope he will take this as a warning and take better care of his health.

Irene has been unhappy at work, too much responsibility and not enough guidance. They're working her hard, making her work alone much of the time, and not paying overtime. She is after all an apprentice, not a pastry chef.

Husband started physical therapy this week for his inflamed achilles tendons. Suddenly all his favorite activities are forbidden: dancing, running, skiing, cycling. He's only allowed to walk, and not overdo that either! The treatments are painful - but hopefully they will help.

On tuesday we went on the 11.4 km "Snøkuten", a nighttime walk/run in the hills near here (this was before the physical therapist limited the amount of walking Husband is allowed to do). It took us 1 hr and 35 minutes and my butt and thighs ached for days afterward. Still, I'm trying to work out more intensely and more regularly to stop the trend of weight gain which has been going on for the past 6 years.

Ingvild has had a lot of tests these past 2 weeks. She's done really well, though she was disappointed with her grades in ballet and jazzdance. Tonight we all watched her hip hop performance. It was outdoors in 4 degrees Fahrenheit, but worth coming to. She is good!