Working night shift.

In January I started working night shift part time. It's a perfect match to my new project involving my new firm.
After working two or three nights I've got a week off. Combining this with working four 24 hours periods in a row every third week it adds up to a bit more than a full job. Still I do have several days in a row of where I can evolve my new project.
The two first months of this year has told me that this is a perfect combination for me, enabling me to consider even a few more projects.
I will have an evaluation in June deciding if I will continue or if some changes is due.
Working night shift is something that appeals to me and I am quiet sure that what ever the evaluation in June is telling me. Working night shift will be a part of the future.

Building a new bathroom.

The teenagers in our household has patiently been waiting for a new bathroom. Monday this week my father in law arrived and we started building a new bathroom. It's frustrating waiting for plumbers and electricians when we need them but at least we have moved from demolition to building during the last day or so.
This is what it looked like two days ago.

We will continue working and I will hopefully update with pictures of a new bathroom coming to life.

Friday night on the couch.

I've spent 78 of the last 120 hours at work. That is resulting in a Friday night on the couch in front of the TV. I will have a quiet night with a beer or two and will go to bed early. I will not have the alarm clock waking me up tomorrow. I will sleep until I wake up by myself knowing that it is almost a week till I will be at work again.

I will spend the week at home starting to renovate a bathroom giving the 18 year old and the 16 year old their own bathroom in the basement.

Enjoy your weekend where ever you are and whatever your plan are.

Cancer is back in my family.

My aunt was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. She lost the fight after one year and died one day after celebrating Christmas with her family around her.

A few months after my aunt was diagnosed my father was diagnosed with cancer. He looks like winning the fight. The cancer is gone and so far it's not looking like it will be back. But we can only hope and pray.

Two weeks ago my Mother was diagnosed with cancer. And these weeks has been frustrating. She was scheduled for an operation one and a half week ago.
But the operation was cancelled because they wanted an expert to have a look at her X-ray pictures. The pictures was sent to another hospital where the expert would look at them last Tuesday. Wednesday she was told that they didn't have time to look at her pictures. This is something that they only do on Tuesdays, therefore she had to wait another week. We can only hope that they had time to look at the pictures today. Hopefully she will get information about the progress and the plans for her treatment tomorrow.

Making changes.

During the last months of last year I made som changes in my life. It's been a tough journey but finally I'm starting to see some results.

For the first time in more than a year I'm looking forward to going to work. I'm currently holding two jobs.

One is my safety. A job that I love with incredible talented persons doing a fantastic job. I'm proud and happy to be a part or it. And it's a job that I'm planning to keep for many years to come.

The second one is my dream of independence. A small project that I run with a good friend. Doing things the way we want and think is the right way of doing things. Recruiting dedicated people who are independent and giving them freedom to shape their own day at work. My plan for this project is to make it grow steadily and hopefully this project continue to be a source of both a safe income and inspiration.

After almost 10 though months I can see that this is a Wonderful World and I'm ready to appreciate it.

Me time.

We still have some challenges coping with our daughters tough time. Trying our best to help her is draining our energy and I should probably have gone to bed as it's almost midnight here in Norway. But I need some me time with my book in a quiet house where everyone is sleeping.

Family.

My family and it's well being is the most important thing for me. Therefore I have a tough day today when my daughter is telling us she has a hard time. She's a fantastic girl but all to often she is hard to her self. I also believe that she, like many youngsters, is struggling to find her place and who she is. It's also hard to see her always comparing herself with others and not being able to see what a wonderful girl she is. It's breaking my heart seeing her unhappy and feeling unable to help her.

Happy new year.

It has been a hectic period the last few weeks, and it will probably continue through January. But I am feeling confident that this is the beginning of something better.
When February arrives my plan is that things will be more stable work wise and my income will be close to what I had in November but the hours spent will be considerably less. And the most important I will be happier at work, working with people who bring out the best in me.
2017 will be a fantastic year, because I say so, Living the good life in this Wonderful World.

Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Living in the South Western parts of Norway it might be decades between each time we get a White Christmas. Being a family of five we decided many years ago that it's easier for us to spend the holidays at home instead of traveling to family in other parts of the country.
Having family in parts of the country where a White Christmas is more common traveling would enhance the possibility of experiencing snow at the holidays.
This year we have discussed the possibility to visit the family in the North Western parts of the country. At Sunnmøre we will at least have snowy mountains surrounding our celebration, if we are really happy the landscape will be like we experienced it last time we decided to celebrate the holidays there.

It's probably no surprise that we have made our plans to celebrate our holidays at this part of our beautiful country. The plans include lots of traditional Christmas food combined with skiing and relaxing with a good book in front of the fireplace.

A new design.

One of our Christmas traditions is to make and decorate a Christmas house. This year we found some pictures on the net and decided to try to make something similar.

We have spent a few afternoons making the house through trying different solutions.

We are really satisfied with the result and will do some small changes to make it even better next year. These changes includes one extra floor. Time will tell if we will succeed next year.

A pleasant surprise.

Yesterday evening I was relaxing at home reading the newspaper when the doorbell was ringing. It was a nice surprise when I realized it was flowers for me. There is no occasion for it so I was really wondering who'd sent them.
When I opened the card and saw the text and the names written on it my eyes where filled with tears. People who I want to keep in my life, people who, amongst many more, bring out the best in me where thinking about me and told me that they care about me.
I'm lucky to have these people around me in this Wonderful World.

Me time.

I'm a social guy who likes to be with and around people, but still I have a need for "me time." A part of a day, a whole day, even a week end where it's just me, a book and hiking, diving, fishing and stuff like that.
It's probably been years since I had a whole day or more, it has mostly been an hour or two. Today I've made some priorities that give med almost five hours or "me time." I've been off line for two and a half hours, no phone, no iPad and no computer. And I'll be offline for the next two and a half hours after I've posted this on my blog.
The house is empty and quiet, and I'm sitting by the window reading and every once in a while I pause and look at the life outside. It's raining but it's not windy and the ducks at the small lake close to our house are swimming quietly back and forth looking for food.
This day will bring me new energy for the days to come. Starting with a day with more people and plans tomorrow. A highlight will be a cup of coffee and a chat with my wonderful friend Roger at lunchtime tomorrow.

A happy moment.

As I was walking from the bus a few hundred meters to my house I suddenly saw a small guy sitting next to the road in the frozen grass.

I imagine someone was out late last night or maybe early this morning putting him there in an attempt to put a smile on somebody's face.  And they succeeded.

I had to stop, look at this guy and take a picture. As I was walking home I realized I was smiling to myself, dreaming about the Christmas season and thinking to myself:

"This is a Wonderful World and I am happy to have fantastic people around me. Some of them unknown to me but still they provide me small surprises that put a smile on my face and makes this a wonderful day."

I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling like this after seeing that guy in the grass.

Back at work.

After spending almost 36 hours with my family I'm back at work realizing that I have to go through with the changes in my (professional) life.

There are still people (and situations) that bring out the worst in me and steal energy from me. It's even clearer for me now when I have been working a bit at one of the places I hope will be a part of my new life. A place where I can feel safe and my colleagues are people who bring out the best in me.

I do, still, believe in this Wonderful World, but I have to concentrate on making the changes I've already planned.
2017 will be a Wonderful Year in this Wonderful World.

Weekend

This morning I was home at 10 o'clock, ending a busy week at work. Now I'm staying home until around 6 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I am planning a relaxing time with my family.
In a few hours I'll be ready for a new game of chess at TV. As I've mentioned before the Norwegian Broadcasting make excellent coverage of the games between Karjakin and Carlsen in New York.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with the people you love.

I almost forgot.

I really don't know how it's possible but I almost forgot the chess game between Carlsen and Karjakin. But luckily I didn't. My book is resting at my nightstand while I prioritize the chess game.

I would prefer Carlsen's game was looking better but still hoping that he will win and continue being the World Champion. Karjakin is looking strong. He might be to strong.

Relaxing.

I have had a busy week. This weekend is also looking busy. Therefore it's important to find the opportunities to relax and get ready for the week to come. Fortunately next week is looking more quiet, at least from Wednesday.
My plans for the weekend is to get time to finish the book I'm reading, getting ready for a new book the weeks befor Christmas which is a great holiday for reading.
To get some quality time with my book all I need to do is to post this on the blog and get the youngest one in bed. I'll start with posting the blogpost and you all know what will be next. Good night and happy reading.

Making plans.

The last few weeks I've been too busy to do som of the things I've told myself to do. Make plans for the future which is giving me the things I've been surching for. Time to spend with my family, positive people who bring out the best in me and work that gives me the latter.
Even though a opportunity is ahead of me it's to wage to be putting all the eggs in that basket. I need to make some additional plans.

Christmas market

The girls (my wife and daughter and their friends) did a great job at the Christmas market. They have almost earned the money they need for their trip to Croatia for handball girls training camp in June.
No wonder they sold lots of things, just have a look at the pictures.

Family

I've had a great Sunday. Visiting my parents and having dinner with my sister and her husband at my parents house. My two sons and wife also joined me. My daughter was busy playing an away match with her handball team.
At dinner we had a great time talking about important and less important things. I'm grateful for my wonderful family. A good ending of this week making me ready for the week ahead.