Comfy Christmas in Snowy Iceland

I´ve had a really nice Christmas :-) The past few days have been overly quiet though seen as the kids are away, and being the teenager I am, as soon as no one is making me get up in the mornings my days become skewed, in as much as I eat at extremely irregular hours, stay up until morning and get up in the afternoon.... But hey isn´t that what holidays are all about ;-) Being given the first two seasons of Smallville (which I´d never seen before) hasn´t helped much either ;-) Went to see Lord of the rings which was, of course, great and I´m proud to say that I not once laughed out loud when all the hugging and the kissing and the crying commenced, yet again ;-) yay! go me!! (far exceeds my self control when seeing the Titanic ... muhahhhhaahhaa)
Christmas eve was great, the kids were (understandably) hyper with all the waiting, sweets and presents. I got loads of cool prezzies, I love getting presents, just wish I could have given more.... anyways..

*Got a load of extremely cool socks from my cousin ;-) I love multicoloured weird socks
*an intrigueing naturistic pencil set from Asuka (I collect pencil cases)
*Anne Rices Blackwood farm from Svava, which only goes to show how well she indeed knows me, seeing as it´s the only book I´d already bought in the last two months ;-) looking forward to changing it for either the new David Eddings one or an older Anne Rice :-D
*An ethnic diary from my favorite Akureyri highschool student ;-)
*An Excellent set of things ordered on J-list from Stu ;-) Said he got the idea from my blog..I wonder how...;-Þ the t-shirt on the right was one of them, as with all the j-list t-shirts the text will cause a reaction when I wear it to school after the holidays :-)
*A black top from Liz and John (how´d they come up with black I´ll never know ;-)
*Michael Moores dude where´s my country (as well as a whole batch of Smallville) from Halldór
*The Thomas Crown affair from Steini
*A scented candle amidts a nice candle holder from my aunt in Norway

Of course I, in a way consider all the things my kids get kinda mine as well.... but I´m not going to recount all those up here ;-) Just thank you all!!

On Chritmas day I had invited guests...ah already written about that see post from the 26th ;-)

At the moment I´m actually sitting at my computer, o.k. that kinda was a given, but am also gearing up for writing a bit ... writing a chapter or two in my infamous essay..... yup, holidays are kinda over but there´s still loads of quiet seeing as the kids won´t return until the second, loads of leftovers and this relaxed, surpricingly non stressed joie de vivre (I don´t speak French!!) left which I´m hoping to direct towards both writing as well as sorting though the kids bedroom :-) so wish me luck.... (and perhaps a bit of stamina)

Loads of comfy holiday cheer from an incredibly snowy Iceland :-)

This defies words...

My real identity ;-) alas I´ve been found out..

Your Superhero Identity For Today Is:


Name: Red Dancer
Secret Identity: Gunnella Thorgeirs
Special Power: Twisting Finger
Transportation: Turbo Minivan
Weapon: Quantum Whip
Costume: Carbonite Helmet
Sidekick: Odd Job
Nemesis: Ming the Evil
Tragic Flaw: Addicted to solitaire
Favorite Food: Cheez Whiz

Anyone care to give me a hug... ? please



*HUGS* TOTAL!
give Xanth more *HUGS*

Get hugs of your own

Duhhhh

One day a young blonde woman was speeding through Vermont only to be pulled over by the state police. She rolled down her window to confront the stern looking officer walking up to her door.

"Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?" he asked.

Gathering the dimmest expression possible the lady blinked, "Why, no idea at all officer. Are you trying to sell me tickets to the Policemen's Ball?"

"Ma'am," the officer said gruffly, "state police don't have balls." and upon realizing what he had said, tipped his hat, walked back to his car, and drove away

My Christmas in pictures

Downtown Reykjavik on Christmas day evening

Walking down the main street to the centre tonight is an experience on nights as these. One passes the occasional couple returning home from a dinner somewhere, a couple of gentlemen of ill repute gently sway along to the salvation army for the night, there are hardly any cars around and everything is just so quiet, so pristine. And then of course there are the occasional weirdos like me, walking by themselves (questionable excercise for a female on a night like this to start of with) taking pictures on her mobile phone ;-)

Useless timeconsuming test time ;-)

Hey give me some slack, I've cooked a really fancy traditional dinner for eight. Smoked salmon and toast for starters, Smoked lamb, white sauce, and all that goes with that, and then a creamy rice pudding with cherry sauce for afters. We had three dinner guests this Christmas, three japanese ladies two of whom are my teachers at university and one of whom works at the new embassy. I couldn't really have them celebrating Christmas on their own could I? O.k. I know new years eve is the big holiday for them, but still, being in Iceland and not being able to experience first hand Icelandic Christmas didn't sound right! It was really nice, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and judging by how much was eaten I'd hazard the guess that it was edible ;-)
Bjarni came to pick up the kids in the middle of dinner, hence the walk and the fact that I'm sitting here upstairs on the computer, being downstairs just seems to empty and quiet.... But hey, I know they'll enjpy themselves and thats what matters....

So as I was planning to say in the beginning ;-) instead of cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes here I am online, doing silly tests and eating loads of chockolates :-P Niiiice....





I tashte like Alcohol.


Heh. Heh. I taste like beer. I like beer. Buy me a beer. I'm not drunk, I can drink plenty without... What was I saying? Beer. What Flavour Are You?


I can't spell


why is YOUR livejournal annoying?



Take the What
animal best portrays your sexual appetite?? Quiz

Yours truly Gunnella
Sent meðGSMbloggi Og Vodafone

Merry Christmas !!!

For you! my devoted readers (hey .. stop the sniggering ;-) !! I have baked the masterpiece of ginger bread cookies, without the hassle of actually going into the kitchen ;-) I baked one for you, but you´ll have to click it though to be able to read the text ;-)

Should you fancy playing around with dough, smarties and frosting then go bake your own , only please give me a bite :-D

Wishing you all the very best for the Christmas Holidays,

Lots of love,

Gunnella.

Christmas tomorrow...

Tonight mr candlesnatcher will arrive on the Reykjavík scene, doubtless creating havock like his brothers before him. Food has been bougth, new clothes for the kids from the innermost to the fancy parts , guests invited, bathrooms cleaned, presents (some at least) distributed and chores divided... tomorrow will comence by the boiling of the smoked lamb during which I´ll probably decorate the tree with the kids..... Baths will ensue, followed by really fancu clothes and a small amount of food preparation stress.....
At six a clock sharp, we´ll sit down to dinner.

Watching reruns of idol (the icelandic version) on late night tv I was surpriced when they asked each contestant which of the santas (Yule lads) was their favorite.. I´d never really thought of it that way but it made sense..... one guy said he liked mr door slammer, due to his energy and flamboynce ..... I myself, once I thought of it, like candle snatcher..... he´s not all about food, women or loudness instead he literally seeks enlightenment..... ;-) Share your thoughts on this by all means!

So in short;
Cooking from 12 onwards, baths and tidying up..then fancy clothes and dinner at 6...
post dinner the relaxed opening of the presents and then plain chillin... including kids playing with presents, cookies, clementines, candles, books and mmmmmm pure and utter nice ness :-D

Minni á gsm mynda bloggið mitt

A reminder of my picture mobile phone blog

I think I´ve found my guy again..!!

The look, albeit a tad young he still is..... words can´t describe him... I think actually I´ve come accross his brothers online though. Remember my post exchange with the sungod and then my later perusal of the naked cowboy...well this one is definitevly a relation !! :-)

"MY PERSONALITY
Bold, handsome, confident, and good-looking are the words that immediately come to my mind when I try to describe my personality. On second thought, other words that come up are gorgeous, sexy, and brave."

Come on you have to admit he sounds just dreamy

You are Pamela (me!). You like video game and anime characters, collecting books and DVDs and surfing (alot) on the web. You watch a lot of Star Trek and go to comic book and sci fi conventions. You surf through messageboards and attempt to put in your lame ass opinions any chance you get. You probably run your own website with it's own messageboard and buy unnecessary stuff on auction sites. You're a nerd and you know it. You probably even made your own dumb quiz

Take the Which Black Daisies Character Are you Quiz

Walk Through the Fire

FRODO:
I touch the fire and it freezes me
I look into it and it's black
The ring's my friend
It loves me to the end
But I must throw it back

Now through the smoke it watches me
The Eye that pierces every shade
I've thought it through
I know what I must do
The Ring must be unmade

So I will walk to the fire
Where else can I turn
I will walk to the fire and let it …

GOLLUM:
Our Precious thing, it calls to us
But we promised to obey
We hopes he fries, we're free if Master dies
We'll helps him on his way

SAURON:
It will all end in fire
When the ring is returned

GOLLUM:
When Precious is returned

SAURON / GOLLUM:
And he will walk to the fire
And let it-

GANDALF:
To the Black Gate we'll go marching
Hoping Sauron will be watching
Will this buy the Bearer enough time?

GIMLI:
There's no chance that we'll live through it

LEGOLAS:
Gandalf's right we still must do it
At least we'll die defeating his design

ALL:
We'll see it through
It's what we're always here to do
So we will march to the fire

FRODO:
Now one by one they've turned from me
Why must I face this task alone?

SAM:
What can't we face if we're together?

FRODO:
Perhaps they see
The change that's come to me
How much my power's grown

SAURON:
So one by one they come to me
The distant redness as their guide
But what they'll find
My strength has not declined
I will not be denied

LEGOLAS:
Like an evil tide they rush us

GOLLUM:
Master will destroy the Precious

SAM:
Where will Frodo find the strength he needs

FRODO:
Going through the motions
Walking through the part

GOLLUM:
We thinks hobbits on the menu

GIMLI:
Baruk Khazad, Khazad Aimenu

GANDALF:
Sauron's might has brought us to our knees

FRODO:
These endless days
Are finally ending in a blaze

SAURON:
They have come to me

ALL:
And we are caught in the fire
The point of no return
So we will walk to the fire
And let it burn
Let it burn
Let it burn

FRODO:
Let it burn!

My two greatest loves combined..add a dash of the matrix and my life´d be perrfect ;-)
Via once more with hobbits

Going overboard with LOTR

Jaomir joins the cast of lotr, an unsuspected move on behalf of Jackson - Haven´t you ever wondered how to get Legolas into leather pants - Dr. Seuss' LotR - no, then perhaps The Lord of the Rings: The Twelve Days of Christmas - One bowl to bind them all, the agonies of fans - Have you wondered why........? - Cool setup!! - Want to know your elvish name? - ever wonder if you might be a hobbit redneck - crossword puzzle - Cool captions - And finally funny links


just for you Audur ;-)

Tannlaus íkorni ;-) / A toothless squirrel

Arrrgh :-D the last exam was today !! I am now officially on holiday :-)!!!!

Started the day by attending Ragnars school Christmas show and dance ;-) I probably looked very foreboding, seeing as, as I sat in the auditorium I had free seats on either side ... hummm might it have had something to do with the fact that I was reading my notes whilst waiting for Ragnar to ascend to the stage ;-P It served a purpose, by the time Ragnars dance had finished my stress had vanished and I could freely concentrate upon running my merry way to school in order to catch the exam.
*note, skirt and tights with sneakers is not the appropriate code of dress during snowy midwinter Iceland ;-)

Think I might have passed this one....will see ;-)



Yours truly Gunnella
Sent með GSMbloggi Og Vodafone

Mr. Spock syngs a little ditty about Bilbo Baggins

This has go to be one of the most surreal videos I´ve ever seen....
Now I´ll have the lively tune "bilbo, bilbo, baggins, baggins......." singing in my head for ages...

You have to check it out!!

On the subject og LOTR, I just automatically assume that you´ve seen lord of the cock rings, the Jack black and Sarha Michelle Gellar spoof ;-)

It´s my birthday tomorrow!!! ;-) sort of

For the birthdate: 20. apríl 1973
You are now 11200 days old.

Your next Minor Decimal Birthday is
your 11200th day on 18. desember 2003

Your next Major Decimal Birthday is
your 12000th day on 25. febrúar 2006

Wanna find out your decimal birthday ;-)

o.k. at the risk of sounding old fashioned, patronising..WTF is happening to people????

Parents are weening their babies off breastmilk by "blending" hamburgers, fried chicken, chinese takeaway and chips (french fries) and feeding that to the kids....??? O.k I´m far from being a healthy eater and unfortunately that reflects on my kids, that doesn´t mean I´m not health conscius... I for instance think labelling food meant for children as fat free is ridiculous, seeing as kids need fat, preferrably animal fat for proper developement. However there are some things one adheres to. Like for instance keeping them away from large quantities of fish, eggs, sugar and salt for the first year (won´t even start in on msg, that´s just plain ridiculous)

As with everything else the rule "all is good in moderation" applies. Sweets are fine (after a certain age) as long as it´s in moderation, for instance on sweet days or linked to a certain event, like birthdays or something. Ragnar absolutely loves cod-liver oil, extremely healthy in tiny quantities and dangerous in larger ones. Elena will always finish off the fat (meat fat) of other peoples plates at the end of the meal...albeit gross I think it´s ok she obviously just needs her energy (she´s skinny).

It all seems to be so exaggerated, kids are either turning up with eating disorders or obese.... My four year old came home from playschool the other day complaining that she was so fat she couldn´t fit into her dress....? She´s a fairly skinny one, apart from a natural baby tummy... It´s just so scary that she interpreted growing as becoming fat ! Whyever should a four year old be even aware of such things, were she obese that would be a matter for the family to take care of by simply lowering the amount of fat in the food at home, the child shouldn´t even be aware of it!!

"Messages for adults don't apply to children, certainly not at this age."


Blahh humbug, sorry this just pisses me off

O.k. since I´m obvuously off on a rant here..... childrens clothes and weight watchers

What is it with childrens clothes these days, espescially girls clothes?? Tight dresses with cleavages aren´t exactly what I picture my four year old wearing. Add high heels to the concoction and makeup and it just seems plain scary to me... These are children but there just seems to be so much pressure on them to become grownups..

And why is there never any mention of the people who suffer from weight problems, no not obesity but from not being able to keep up their weight...Oh..that´s right, it´s because they look "right" they are skinny and hence fit into the societies compartment for attractive people.. I have mayhaps two friends who I would say "suffer" from obesity, i.e. couldn´t lose weight without help and have difficulty coping with life on a day to day basis due to this disability.. Apart from that I have loads of friends who talk about being t fat (me included) but who would have no real difficulty loosing weight were they to get up off their### and actually do something about it ;-)

The people I know who can´t keep up their weight do suffer both physical sideeffects as well social ones. The social ones being ones of non appreciation for the "problem", i.e. failing to see how being just skin and bones can be a problem, and of stigma..i.e being thought to have aids, cancer, anorexia or actually wanting to be like that..... There is no way to win is there..

o.k. rant over ;-) for now

Weird statistics!!

Bear with me... does this sound right to you???
65 people sign up for a university course
23 give up on the course before exams (that´s a third!!)
9 people don´t show up for the exam (or phone in sick)
8 people get a falling grade
and the average grade for those who actually took the exam was 5.7 (out of 10)

Now to me this doesn´t quite ring true, that only 37.5 should pass an exam which is only an extra course for the main language one... What do you think??

That coupled with fairly bad reviews from the students makes for an intresting situation.......

Quote

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is quoted to have said: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."

That of course clears it all up ;-)

I got this pice from here and you canlisten to him here

Oh eeh, Oh ah ah, ting tang walla walla bing bang. Oh eeh, Oh ah ah, ting tang walla walla bing bang!



Students of japanese Ardently studying and quietly panicking ;-)

It´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I live in the old centre of town, where the houses are relatively small and there´s this feeling of individualness. This individualness is most obvious in the wast array of colours used on the houses and their roofs, but come Christmas time one also sees it in the Christmas decorations :-) For the greater part they tend to be understated, tasteful and sweet.
Of course there are exceptions ;-) But I so much prefer this to the houses farther away from the centre where people seem to go overboard in their decorating :-( who need numerous glowing santas on their lawn, reindeer on the roof, all the trees fully lit up and blinking hedges????

by the by, that´s what passes as daylight here in Iceland in December and January :-P

Yours truly Gunnella
Sent með GSMbloggi Og Vodafone

A small ode to Highlander

I thought I was movie obsessed but these sites are great !! They focus upon movie locations rather than actors or directors :-D Niiice.
I of course started by looking up Highlander and voilá, loads of nice scottish scenes

A great collection of ugly wedding dresses :-)

Buy a friend to show you around Reykjavík nightlife

Lol I´m impressed! and now I realize that anything exists!!!!

And here I though that´s what the internet was for ;-) meeting people online to have someone to hang out with once u actually get there ;-P Or one can meet on airplanes (Stu ;-), in Japan (Ali, Asuka ;-), through blogs or other friends ;-). But hey I fully expect this to work as well, albeit ever so slightly cheezy/sleazy. But come on 25.000kr???? Isn´t that a tad over the top??
I just tend to show up at unsuspecting friends houses two, five or ten years later and (much to their dismay) expect to stay there just like they stayed at my place..quid per quo, works much better, and you´re left with weird friends who read your blog for a laugh ;-) And the partying in Boston, Clywid and Edinburgh proves it´s all worth it !! :-D

Competition time

First one to guess who said these words gets an autographed painting by a promising Icelandic artist!!
Ready? listen carefully....


"Live long and prosper"
whoops slight mistake, here goes...


"I think what this show really needs is a redhead," he said. "For me, it's becoming personally offensive that we aren't representing that group. There's only one redhead in Hollywood, so naturally they should hire my wife. I just can't believe there hasn't been an organized movement."


Now go, give it a guess !! ;-) and you just might be a lucky one ...

I so desperately need to hone my reading japanese skills !!!

Obviously the blog chats about my blog as well as the japanese students in Iceland page, but..?

Hey .. ! fame becomes me, I´m so impossibly humble, ne?

The third Yulelad

Stubby was the third called,
a stunted little man,
who watched for every chance
to whisk off a pan.

And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims - his favorites.

Amazing photoblog from Japan !