Thursday, May 26, 2005

Lisa skipped to school...

Lisa gikk til skolen, tripp tripp tripp det sa, i den nye kjolen trippet hun så glad. OK, for those of you who don't understand Norwegian, that doesn't make sense. I know. I just had to write it. It is from a children's song, about little Lisa who skips happily to school in her new dress. (And that was just what happened to my little Sagalisa today. Read on:)

The first school dress I bought arrived yesterday, really superfast! I could hardly believe the dress could have got here on Wednesday if it was posted on Monday, but it was... Good on you, Royal Mail and Posten Norge, you haven't always been this speedy with your delivieries!

So today Saga got to go to kindy in her new dress. She looked so cute, but I am glad I have bought mostly sizes 4-5, because in my opinion it wasn't too big for her at all. Maybe a tad long, but that is easily fixed. Not too wide at all! Here, have a look:

Saga in her new red school dress © StineC

And in the mail today were two more small packets, they didn't take long to get here either. One was a grey pinafore dress which will probably be a bit too large for Saga yet, and the other a blue and white checked gingham summer dress which I also think may be a teeny weeny bit too large, but she'll grow into them both. Nice dresses in great condition at a bargain price - I am very pleased, and I know Saga will be too!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Feeling like a genius for once :-D

OK, so I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been miserable to such an extent that I wouldn't want to be responsible for causing depressions in other people by writing about it. Everything seemed to go wrong. First of all there was the thing about no money. We were behind with everything; school fees, payment for kindergarten, rent... Replacing the front window of Sven's car that someone had smashed while parked. Outrageous phone bills even though we hardly ever call anyone - what costs is having a line! Owing money for repair of the car after the crash in February. My tooth chipped and I had to go to the dentist and have it repaired. Haven't been to the dentist for two years because we couldn't prioritize a checkup of otherwise good teeth when Sven cracked a molar, got an infection and had several thousand kr in emergency dental bills. Then Sven's health problems caused him to fail his level at school and has to redo the semester, leading to a possible loss of rights to student loans and grants. And if this wasn't enough, the school-related costs I have had since August that I should have had a refund for, as well as money that were wrongfully deducted from my benefit, are being denied refunded and my participation in the program is terminated. The house is unmanageably cluttered and untidy and the children has worn holes through pretty much of their clothes and I am ashamed to send them to kindy like that whether they be darned or not. Who wouldn't want to curl up and die?

And just as I was going to make some dresses for Saga to wear to kindergarten... Have patterns. Have sewing machine. Have the time now that my studies have gone down the drain. What I don't have is money for the fabric. What to do? And then, by luck, a strike of genius hit me:

Buy used school uniforms off eBay, of course! Show me the wiring of English children if they don't play, too. Practical and modest enough clothes in hard-wearing and easy to care for fabrics, and at prices that even I can almost afford at this time.

I really do feel like a genius for thinking of this. And since Norwegian children don't wear school uniforms, I can buy whatever pattern and colour scheme I like and mix and match and nobody will care if Saga wears red one day, and green the next. Now, if only more people would sell to Europe/worldwide instead of only to the UK, I could get even more bargains. =sigh= But I am pleased so far. It will be exciting when the first uniforms start arriving, and Saga can try them on. Check back for school fashion updates!