I celebrated my birthday on Friday.  I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this one.  After all, I turned 60 years old.  I can hardly believe it!  But I got to celebrate my birthday with many little children and co-workers.  So it turned out to be a fun birthday after all. I was greeted with this poster from the other Pre-K 3 class next to ours.  And then I came into our classroom only to be greeted by many of our students with hugs and shouts of happy birthday. It was so special to receive so many beautiful cards from each of the children.  …

Norway is an amazing place!  It also happens to be where all of my relatives are from.  Both of my parent's families are Norwegian. There is a beautiful family farm in Sumstad, Norway which is north of Trondheim.  My paternal grandfather was born and raised here. Norway will be celebrating "Munch 2013" throughout this year.  It is the 150th birthday of Edvard Munch, a late 19th and early 20th century artist.  You may be familiar with his best known painting titled "Scream". Visit Norway has launched a campaign to commemorate th…

Did you know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women?  Too often it's thought of as a men's disease.  But women suffer from its effects too.  I worked as a cardiovascular nurse specialist for 25 years so I witnessed this first hand. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute is sponsoring The Heart Truth , a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease.  They have established the first Friday of February as National Wear Red Day. This year it falls on February 1st ...which just so happens to be my birthday!   And did I mentio…