Etiquette: What to do when invited to a party.

As I promised here is a litle post on What to do when invited to a party.

These days etiquette is not something you learn in school like one used to. Not here at least. I was so lucky that once a year my parents were invited to a national meeting of the machine entrepeneurs sosciety of Norway, and my father is a highly respected man in that circle and was chairman for many years. So me and my sisters were expected to behave properly and have good manners. I used to think manners and etiquette was boring, stiff and unneccesary, but I have come to appreciate and expect it. In my oppinion etiquette is something everyone should learn.

On good manners.

I am sometimes astonished today to see how some people behave. To think that in just 30 or so years etiquette and manners have much gone out the window in everyday society.

This year, for m birthday, my husband had invited some friends over for a party. "Come at 6" he had said, so at a litle over 5 I was still dresses in my undies and was walking to the bathroom to put my pair of corsets on when there was a knock on the door, followed shortly by the entrance of two of our friends and their baby.

I was so embarrased, and not only for my own sake! For me, it's the hight of rudeness to arrive early for a party. Ok, 5 minutes is alright, but when you arrive an hour ahead of time! It's just not done! It's not only rude, but very inconciderate. There I, the hostess, was in my undies. No make-up on, hair un-done and food stil on the stove. I just have to ask myself: "what were they thinking?"

The excuse was that their baby was just perfect for traveling and going away just then. That she was fed, awake and happy. For me, that is still no excuse for rudeness and bad behaviour. Ofcourse, it was convenient for them to go at that moment with her being serene. I can understand that, but they did not even concider that they might be rude arriving an hour early.

The same evening there was also another episode of bad etiquette: one of the guests that was invited had rsvp'd yes, but did not show. When we texted her later she told that her son was a bit ill so she had decided to stay home instead. And that is totally understandable, no argument there, however when you decide not to go... pick up the phone and send a message, or call, to tell the host or hostess that you're not coming after all. It's just the right thing to do!

So in light of this I have decided to write a small series of posts about etiquette and manners... starting with: What to do when you are invited!

Balancing school and being housewife

Today is a typical day for me this semester. I got up at 10 (waaay too late for my taste, but recently I've been having trouble sleeping), got dressed, ate breakfast, packed a light lunch and left for the University Library, stayed until they closed at 8... picked up a few books to read and note at home.... and here I am. It's now 8:30pm and I'm tired... exhausted even... and now I'm supposed to cook supper (and preferably a healthy one), do the dishes and do the laundry... And I need to take a shower... *Phew*!

As you can see: It's a hectic life these days.

My new way of life is totally different from what it was a year ago. Then I studied moderatly to litle and got only half way decent grades. This summer, when I was at the field work course, I met a fellow student that got straight A's last semester. She gave me all her study secrets, and woilla! Here I am, studying from 8am to 8pm whenever I can.

But then, last week the clutter took over. The house was a mess! I was dreading getting home each day because it was so ... well... cluttered! On top of that, my birthday was last week and we were getting house guests. *sigh* Just the shear preasure got me so down my husband barely dared speak to me. Poor man, I was a mean wife a few days last week.
My birthday wish this year? It was to wake up to a clean and tidy home. And after helping out a bit myself, on my birthday morning I woke to find most of the house in tip- top order. Clever husband of mine!

So, to the point, after having survived "the revenge of the clutter" I have decided to try and get some order in the daily schedule too. I have to get some time to clean and cook AND relax in between all the studying!

Tip of the Week: Old socks.

"What? Old socks?" you might think. Well, so did I when my mother-in-law told me to keep all my old socks.
This was this summer when I was sorting through all my old clothes to give away or throw out. But here is what she told me I could do with them.

Shining shoes:
This is a tip my husband knew about too. Apparantly they used it in the military to shine their army boots.
If you keep a few socks with your shoe shining stuff, you will always have a polishing cloth ready. Ofcourse, try to choose the fine woven cotton ones for this purpose.

Polishing bronze, silver etc.
This I actually had heard before. Keep some old, clean socks with the bronze or silver (or whatever) polish. Then when you need to polish your silver, you can use a sock to apply the polish, and you can use it to get that perfect shine. And when you are done you can just throw the sock away. No need to have dirty rags around that you need to boil or wash again and again.

Cleaning rags:
My mother-in-law insisted that socks make exelent cleaning rags... I trust her on that. Never tried it myself. But here too you have the advantage that you can just throw the sock in the garbage as soon as your done.'

Getting rid of bad odour in shoes:
put some litterbox sand in an old sock and put it in your shoe. Will get that smell out reall quick.

If you have any other ideas, please contribute ^^

Holidays are over!

It has been a long and busy holiday for me this year. After the finals were over I went south to my birthplace and stayed at my parents's. I was going to use the first week to clean out our old house and put it up for sale, but it took me the whole 4 weeks I had down there to clean it out!

After longing to get back up here for a couple of weeks I packed the car, convinced my friend Steven to drive with me and take a weeks holiday here, started driving to pick him up ... I got about 6 miles before my car broke down. Lucky for me, I was soon picked up by Steven in his car and we towed my wreck back to my dad's shop. After waiting 6 hours for a prognonsis the message was clear: the engine was bust! *sigh* Luckily Mom and Dad decided to lend me a car (since Steven  was driving with me, he could drive it back south too) and packed it to the brim and started driving again.

This time we got as far as 620 miles from home before something else happened. I had been getting gradually sicker the whole evening and night, and after  having to stop a few times so I could stretch and try to throw up, I started throwing up and passing out uncontrollable. Steven got me to the closest doctor and I was rushed to the closest hospital for an appendectomy.

That was 5 weeks ago, the last 4 weeks I have been a small place in the middle of nowhere on an excavation course.

So as you can see, it has beena  busy summer, but now I am back and fit for fight, and with lots of new tips and posts to post. So I hope you will enjoy them, and welcome back to a new school term.

Lots of love.
Anibah

Finally finals are done!

The past few weeks I have been so busy I have not even had time to update my blog. Yesturday I had my last finals for this term. I was so stressed out before I delivered the paper that I had spontaneous nose bleeds.
Typical me when I get under a lot of pressure...

In a few days I go down south to my parents for summer break, so then I'll probably get a lot of new tips for keeping house and whatnot :) I am getting really homesick right now, and can hardly wait until the safety course is over on Friday!

But right now I'm out on an exploraitional trip with my class... We are looking at stone- and iron age remnants


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A nice relaxing vacation

Yesturday we whent to our friends's cabin/house to spend the weekend and the national day of independence. The two geese over were blocking the way out there and we had to stop to let them pass.

The weather here is wonderful! And it's so nice to relax and not think about housework for a while.

The cats are also here. Right now they are outside chasing seaguls.