EVENTYRHUS

Where Do I Begin

2013-03-13T23:14:00.001+01:00

So I dropped off the face of the planet again…but I haven´t been lying still….we had a wonderful trip to Paris the end of January/beginning of February. We had all the kids and Sarah´s live in boyfriend, Pål with us. After the first day of walking ALL over Paris, up 400+ stairs at the Notre Dame, Julia´s back began acting up again and we were terribly afraid we had put her back where she had been before she had surgery last summer. We learned quickly that a short city trip like that was not anything she should do again. If we had a couple weeks or so in Paris, where we didn´t have to rush around she would have been fine, but when you have three days and want to see everything you can, you do more then the average person and she felt that. Never the less we enjoyed ourselves immensely and all of the kids were inspired to return again someday as were we, however, I refuse to return to Paris again in the winter. This was our second trip to Paris in the winter and next time I want to experience spring or summer there.

In February I cut back on my work week by one day, so now I´m working two days a week so I can have more time for these….

and these…

and her….

And yes, I know I´m extremely lucky to have a Sugar Daddy who makes this possible….but with that said, I am working as hard as he is, I am just not getting paid in money for this job at home….can anyone relate?

Me and my Sugar Daddy in Paris

With my added "free" time I´m trying to get back into my photo hobby….and this lovely lady and her son have been helping me…

I´ve also started a food blog in Norwegian and English which I´ve thought a LONG time about but I had this blog and I was adding recipes here and I figured I can barely keep up with this blog so why start another? Well, the other blog is JUST for recipes and food. Something that I´m consumed with daily and actually can update often because….hey…things happen in my kitchen ;-) Where as in the rest of my life there isn´t always so many exciting happenings to write about, so I don´t….and then I have spurts like this where you get the last month and a half in one post- lucky you right? ;-) I figured also that my food blog would be an easy way to share recipes with my friends and family who ask me for recipes. Instead of sending them individual recipes I´ll just post in my blog. That way it will be a little easier to find recipes for myself also. If you saw how my recipes were stored you´d get a headache….I have recipes everywhere, on notecards, in writing tablets, in cookbooks, on Pinterest, all over the net, saved on various websites…EVERYWHERE….and even here on my blog the recipes are scattered in between the silly ramblings of yours truly. So now everything will be collected in a neater forum hopefully. You can check it out if you´d like and pass it along if you really like it :-) I´d be grateful.

Amy´s Cafe

I called my food blog Amy´s Cafe because I´ve always dreamed of opening a little cafe or a little food store with gourmet foods, something with food…hahahaha…but you who have been following my blog long enough know that I have a BIG dog hobby right now and even when the numbers aren´t this big in the future, I will always have dogs in my life and can´t be away from them as much as I would have to be if I was going to open my own place. So this blog will be my little "cafe". Hope you´ll like it :-)

Heading to a dog show this weekend with Cookie and Harley. Really not looking forward to the dog show part of the weekend but spending time with good friends will be fun, meeting new people will be fun, and I will be meeting a very special girl this weekend who I will tell you more about in awhile…for now she remains my sweet secret.

Thanks to those of you are still hanging in there with me, welcome to those of you who are new. It´s not the most exciting blog in cyberspace but it´s cozy, kinda like old sheepskin slippers and fleece pj´s and who doesn´t like that????

Until next time my friends….

Chicken With Creamy Mushroom Garlic Dill Sauce

2013-01-21T07:55:00.000+01:00

The Brazilian cooks onboard the Captain´s boat destroy the food they make, so for 5 or 6 weeks the Captain barely eats. They also serve an unusual amount of chicken onboard- dry chicken. So when the Captain comes home he begs me to not make chicken for at least the first couple weeks. However, chicken is a popular dinner here as it´s healthy and good. So last night I told the Captain to brace himself because I was preparing chicken. He kinda rolled his eyes but said ok...it wasn´t being made by the cooks on his boat so there was hope....and sure enough, he wasn´t disappointed...

First thing out of his mouth after he closed his eyes and made a very satisfied sound was, "how do you make it so juicy and tender? Give me some tips so I can tell the cooks onboard" So I began to tell him what I did.

I put some olive oil in the bottom of a baking dish, then laid five chicken breasts on top and sprinkled a little more olive oil on top along with some garlic pepper and chicken spice which is basically some paprika, onion, rosemary, salt, parsley, and white pepper. My oven was set at 200C. Meanwhile we made some jasmine rice with chicken bullion in the water to give it a little more flavor. In another pan I fried up some chopped garlic and onion and aroma mushrooms. I spiced them up with some dry dill and garlic pepper and a tiny dash of salt. Here I used about 50grams of butter to fry these up in...and once the mushrooms looked slightly browned and the onions and garlic were softened, I added the whole thing to the chicken which had been in the oven for about 20 minutes. I also poured about 1/3 liter whole cream over the top and again seasoned with more garlic pepper and back in the oven for another 10 minutes...a quick check of the chicken before I covered it with the sauce told me it was almost done and another ten minutes would make it perfectly juicy and tender....

Truth be told, I don´t really time things....I know I probably should, but I simply pay attention to whatever I´m doing in the oven, I check the chicken and see when it stops being pink inside...and just as it is done being pink, I give it maybe 5-10 minutes more and voila...it´s done. Wish I had more exact times to give you but that´s how the cookie rolls here...still....it seems to be working...

The Captain and I are headed to a place about 30 minutes south of Oslo today on a secret mission. If everything goes as planned, I´ll fill you in tomorrow...or Wednesday as I´m working tomorrow and have my Easylife class, so might be kinda busy tomorrow. Oh....perhaps you´d like an update on my Easylife? My weight is now the lowest it´s been in the entire course so far. Which is great. I´ve lost a total of 10kg so far since September. It´s slow going but I´m hoping it means it will be gone for life. As you can see above, I´m trying to eat NORMAL food but smaller portions. I promise you, I could have had a LOT more rice with this dish and a lot more sauce, but I kept the rice and sauce to a minimum and filled up on the mushrooms and chicken. I´m also trying to exercise more and that has been really up and down. However, after we get back from our trip to Paris the end of this month....

...I will no longer work on Fridays, so I plan to take Spinning classes on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and walk dogs the other days...find the balance with exercise and food intake is the key here I think...and it´s a work in progress but I`m motivated and positive it´s going to work out! How are your New Year resolutions going?

Until next time my friends....

Funny Fox

2013-01-20T13:07:00.002+01:00

This morning my dogs took their normal positions in the backyard where they could easily survey the field by our home and watch for any sort of unusual activity. Sure enough they began barking madly like they had seen something but we couldn´t see anything....told them to be quiet and they were....for a few minutes...then they went nutty again....again, a quick look over the field and we saw nothing...but the dogs were determined they saw something!!! After this little round dance between the dogs barking and our asking them to be quiet, we finally saw the source of their irritation....

This funny fox sat there for a long time in this position... every now and then he would yawn...but he mostly just sat there...watching our yard...and then he laid down...and watched our yard....

His head would peek out from behind the tiny tree he hid behind and he would be scanning my yard when the dogs would run back and forth....he was almost as entertained by my dogs as I am sure they were by him....and he sat there for a long time...

....before he finally got up and slowly wandered off toward the pond near my home....

Never straying too far from a safe view of our home and our dogs....

What a funny funny fox.....I love where we live and the chance to see beautiful wildlife like this guy ;-) What kind of wildlife can you see around your house?

Until next time my friends....

Hey Honey, What´s Cookin?

2013-01-07T11:16:00.000+01:00

Tonight´s dinner is Crispy Cajun Shrimp with fettucine pasta. The recipe is HERE. I haven´t made mine yet, so no photos to show you yet so I´ll borrow the one from the website where I found the recipe.

Here is how I plan to tweek this so it´s a tad healthier...first of all, less pasta when I serve it up...more shrimp. Second, I´ll use whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. I feel very passionate about the fact that you should enjoy what you eat and not be fanatical about everything. With that said, obviously when you use a fat sauce like this will be, it´s best to eat less of it. But less is better then nothing, don´t ya think? You live only once as far as we all know and this is something I hear all the time when people are trying to lose weight, they talk about all the salads they are eating and how they won´t eat sauces and won´t eat this and won´t eat that....and I think to myself, they won´t make it. The majority of them won´t at least. Most of us don´t like to be denied things we like...would be one thing if these sauces and fattening food wasn´t good but it is...so in my opinion, it´s better to eat less of it and work it off then to deny yourself and end up wanting it so badly you gorge yourself with it, feel badly for doing that, beat yourself up and tell yourself you´ll always be a fat blob and what´s the point in exercising....you know...that bad cycle one can get in when one is depressed over one´s self....I know I´m a much happier camper if I´m not denied anything...and more likely to stick with something.

I´m having more fun with this new budget of ours then I thought. I´ve never been so aware of what we´re buying before and I´m finding myself actually asking myself, do we really need it? Where as before I would just say, ooooooo, I like...I buy!!! So it´s very interesting but I notice I have to be very aware when I shop because I think the old habits are still very much there and it would be easy to slip back into buying things without thinking. I assume it´s like any change in life, you have to be aware and totally there in the moment in order to make the changes successful.

What is your best advice for making changes successful?

Until next time my friends...

Sesame Chicken

2013-01-03T20:28:00.000+01:00

On New Year´s Eve, Julia, Thomas and I drove down to the church here on Helgøya to take photos of the fireworks that everyone shoots off at midnight. Unfortunately there was a ton of fog...which made the church look even more eery then normal....

There was one house next to the church that began shooting off fireworks and I got one photo and then they stopped!!!

The rest of the time we were there I desperately tried to get a photo of the fireworks but with the fog I couldn´t see anything, only hear them and every now and then see a faint color through the fog...so we packed it up and headed home...next year´s celebration will be better, the Captain will be home and we will have our own fireworks I can hopefully shoot :-)

So the new year has begun and this year one of our goals (the Captain and I) is to make a budget and stick to it. We´ve never ever tried a budget before but the experts say it´s the first step to financial freedom. So we´re giving it a try and part of having a successful budget is planning meals so you can stay within your food budget. Another tactic of mine is to use the stuff in my freezer before buying anything new. Have a lot of stuff in the freezer we hardly ever use because when you think of it, you want dinner quickly and the food is frozen, so you end up buying something fresh and frozen stuff just stays there. Awhile back I had a freezer challenge, using up everything in my freezer before buying anything new. You can really save a lot of money this way. Anyways, back to our weekly menu. This month started technically on Wednesday so the week isn´t a full week but this is/was on the menu this week:

Wednesday:
Fried Saith fish with cream sauce, boiled new potatoes and carrots.

Thursday:
Sesame Chicken (See photos below)

Friday: Mini meat pizzas

Saturday: Kebab in pita bread with loads of veggies

Sunday: Spring rolls with chicken

Next week´s menu looks like this:

Monday: Crispy Cajun Shrimp with fettucine.

Tuesday: Crepes. (I´ll be gone this day so the kids will be in charge of their dinner and this was their wish)

Wednesday: Homemade Tomato Soup

Thursday: White Fish balls (Like a meatball only made with fish) from my mother in law, served with bacon and cooked potatoes and carrots.

Friday: Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Satuday: ???? (Any suggestions???)

Sunday: Salmon Teriyaki with zucchini pasta.

Here was tonight´s dinner: Sesame Chicken with rice noodles. Super simple...fry up chicken pieces, sautèe red, yellow, and orange pepper and red onion....

Cook up the rice noodles (I buy mine in the foreign shop in Hamar) and drain them and add to the chicken and peppers...add 1TBSP Sesame Oil, 2 TBSP Soy Sauce and mix well. Serve :-) Super good.

Until next time my friends....

Last Lunch Of The Year....

2012-12-31T14:39:00.000+01:00

Bently smelled something good and he was right....Mamma was making lunch...and not just any lunch but the last lunch of 2012. Because it´s the holidays and Mamma is being kinda lazy she bought Ciabatta rolls instead of making them...and then she cut up some red, yellow, and orange pepper and some red onion and sautéed them, with a sprinkling of garlic pepper, until they were soft. She then spread some mild blue cheese on her ciabatta, some chopped walnuts, a couple pieces of 1% fat turkey meat, and the sautéed peppers and onions.....mmmmmm.....together with some low cal hot chocolate and a giant marshmallow (hey it IS the holidays still!) this made for the perfect last lunch of the year! Feast your eyes on this baby.....

Otherwise we´re just chilling on this last day of the year.....being lazy and saving up our energy for the New Year....

What are your plans for the last day of 2012?

See you in the New Year, have a safe evening and celebration!

Until next time my friends.....

The Curves Ahead...

2012-12-30T12:29:00.000+01:00

Let me start by saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I truly believe this. This is why there are so many varied opinions of what is beautiful and what isn´t. As many of you know, I´m working on getting in shape, becoming healthier, and trying to find a weight I´m content with. I´ll never have a 14 year old body again, in fact, I´m not sure I ever had a skinny 14 year old body...at least not the pencil shapes you generally compare to a 14 year old. I´ve always been a tad big boned, I´ve got hips, curves and I´m proud of that. Of course right now I´ve got a lot of padding on those curves and I want to reduce that somewhat but I´ve been googling different things on curves, women´s weight and finding some interesting things I thought I´d share with my dear readers. I know this subject will hit home with a lot of you, after all, we women are never satisfied with our bodies and media tells us we should look one way but is it the right way?

I found this interesting little statue called Venus of Willendorf The fact that she represents a woman´s body thousands of years ago and has the name of the Goddess of Love and beauty should maybe tell us something?

When I was growing up my heros were women with curves...like Superwoman...she was amazing and I totally wanted an outfit like hers...anyone else???

I think I actually had a Superwoman barbie and she had curves...totally cool!

Another woman who has inspired generations and considered one of the sexiest women ever was this pretty lady...

I think one of the reasons she was so beautiful is because she oozed beauty from the inside out. Ever notice how beautiful people can be when they have a beautiful personality on the inside? I´m totally attracted to people (not in a sexual way, get your minds outta the gutter people!) who have fabulous personalities. The more good you are on the inside the more beautiful I think you are on the outside.

My Mother´s generation grew up with beauty icons like this lovely lady...

My daughters are growing up with beauty icons like this....

Is this beautiful? Is this what a woman should look like? Thankfully the fashion world is slowly coming to their senses and realizing the true beauty in a full figured woman....and when we say full figured, this isn´t a promotion of being fat and overweight, it´s a promotion of being healthy, and many full figured women are just that, healthy but bigger then the so-called-women pictured above....

This hotty was even a Sports Illustrated bathing suit model- GOOD JOB SPORTS ILLUSTRATED!!!

Some of the top magazines in the world are also appreciating the full size woman as well and BRAVO to them...I truly believe media plays such an important roll in helping, especially the younger generation, in deciding what is acceptable and what isn´t....

Perhaps someday all fashion houses and media will appreciate the diversity that women have and understand once and for all that the "Normal" woman doesn´t look like this...

Does anyone remember seeing these photos running around social medias? I loved these...gorgeous women with real curves, real bodies...real inspiration...

There was a movement recently through a national newspaper here in Norway about loving your body and trying to stop promotion of skinny bodies through all of the popular teen blogs that millions read....

I don´t know these girls so I can´t speak about who they are, they might be completely good people but what are they promoting? Unhealthy bodies, unnatural skin color, Barbie makeup, and fake hair? Obviously these girls have substantial influence on today´s youth so wouldn´t it be wonderful if they influenced kids to appreciate the individual beauty, the healthy body, and feeling good psychically and mentally? It´s hard enough being a teen and then having the pressure to try and measure up to the girls like the ones in the photos above??? I´d rather show my daughters photos like these below along with the ones above and say, which do you think is more beautiful? Giving them a choice, rather then just showing them the examples above and saying....THIS is the goal ladies....

As I got into the new year with my healthy goals on my to-do list I know which body form I´ll be going for...definitely curves, with a little less padding but definitely curves....so until I achieve that goal, I´ll keep packing my padding into my clothes the best I can and working hard toward my goal....

A healthy, curvy, beautiful woman´s body which I´m proud of....

What do you choose???

Until next time my friends......

New Year, Clean Slate, New Start

2012-12-28T11:25:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, hope you´ve had a warm and wonderful holiday so far. We´ve had a lovely time. It´s been very quiet and that is both a good thing and bad thing. I notice that I am the kind of person who enjoys routines and during the holidays there are no routines. We go to bed late and wake up late (or some of us such as yours truly still wake up 7 hours after she goes to bed, no matter if it´s 1AM or 2AM or whatever...) So our days are totally off. My dearest son told me he´s a night owl I told him he´s only a night owl because his easy going Mom lets him stay up late and he sleeps all day and when he finally wakes in the afternoon, he stays up late again- a terrible cycle. We also eat terribly....no wait, I mean we eat way too good, but not the stuff we normally should eat. I´ve bought way too much junk which I actually thought between four older kids in the house, would be eaten. But no.....and let´s put it this way, all this junk in the house is like having tons of alcohol in an alcoholic´s house and hoping the alcoholic will stay away from it...ugh...so difficult. I know I should toss it, but that goes against my grain too...I don´t throw money away...hahahaha...

So I´ve been out walking...not a lot but some. We´ve had a couple really beautiful days during Christmas and it´s magical when winter lays like a beautiful blanket of white over the trees and ground and the sun shines through like pot of gold at the end of a rainbow....

As we come to the end of the year I always look forward to New Years almost more so then Christmas. Why? Because I love fresh starts. I love clean slates and chances to do things differently. A whole new year laying before us, moments awaiting us, adventures and experiences to come, new people who will enter our lives and old people who might leave our lives, everything is possible! I love that! I am one of those people who likes to make resolutions each New Year and I am one of those people who seldom keeps her resolutions. I always have good intentions but not enough gung ho too keep it going...but here I am again at the end of this 2012 and looking forward to things I plan on doing...things I would LIKE to achieve in 2013.

One thing I think about is of course my health..I think if we look back in the archives here on my blog at all my New Year posts you´ll see this same wish..and it´s still here again...someday I will be able to write that I´ve made it and I´ve really got a good start this year as I began with Easylife in September and it´s working...slowly but it´s working. Of course I´ve probably had a set back now during the holidays but nothing I can´t bounce back from and I will...it´s incredible to have the support of a group and I think it should be a requirement for anyone wanting to lose weight or start a healthier lifestyle to have a support group. You can´t do this alone!!!

Another thing I want to work on and so does the Captain is our financial situation. We make good money but every month we´re down to the last kroner and left wondering where did it all go? Neither one of us are very financially capable although I´ll say the Captain is a lot more interested in the subject then me. I just want to know that when I swipe my card it won´t say, Declined! ARGH! That is so embarrassing and has happened more then once...so we´re going to try out that wonderful thing called a budget which is suppose to help us see where the money is going. Should be interesting. We think we have an idea where it´s going but hopefully now we can really see it and hopefully we can actually begin saving....oooo....I get so excited at such thoughts!!! Do you have a budget? How is that working out for you? Do you feel financially in control? Any tips for a new beginner?

Another thing I´d like us to be better about is being more social and not just social on the social medias but with people we care about. The Captain and I are very happy hanging around our house. Although he could probably think to get out a little more often then me. I feel I see people at work and around the area and it´s enough and when I get home I just want quiet...but it´s not very social, I know this and I can´t expect to have friends when I just sit up here and not make an effort. At the same time though, we´re not party people. We enjoy a good meal with good friends, a little wine and good conversation but are past the days when it was fun to go get stinking drunk and drag ourselves around from one party to the other ALL night long....that is NOT us anymore but it seems to still be a popular thing for a lot of adults around here so not sure how we will work that one out, but where there is a will there has to be a way right?

I also have some dreams I want to try and get closer too. I am not living the life I want to live right now, I´m living a life of existence but not the life I dream of. It´s easy to fall into a rut and just make the days go by, pay your bills, do what you have too in order to survive but as far as we all know we only get one run at this life thing and to just get by isn´t gonna do it for me. So I want to start trying to get closer to my dreams...closer to what I think I really want and further away from what I feel I just HAVE to do because I have to survive.

I would also like to explore simple living a little more. Not fanatically, I will never do anything to an extreme...but I do believe we´ve become a society which has become very dependent on THINGS, and how happy do these things really make us? Can we live with less and be happier? Have you ever tried any simple living ideas and how has that worked out for you?

I want people to be more aware of how much they mean to me. I have so many wonderful people in my life. Some are in my life more then others but everyone who is in my life, touches my heart in a special way. I think a lot of times that I´m good at letting people know how much they mean to me but there is always room for improvement. I´m a hugger and I love to give hugs and get hugs...it´s such a great feeling and you really feel how much someone cares the harder and longer they hold you in their arms...I´m gonna be hugging a bunch of you out there next year...so get ready....hehehehehe....

I want to spend more time doing fun and exciting things with my kids. Yeah, Pål is also one of my kids now (Sarah´s boyfriend of three years) he´s been in the family long enough that he is now considered one of the kids. I want to continue to get to know him and I want to continue to get to know my own kids...they are changing all the time right now...moving into adulthood and I´m watching their development with great interest. We´ve got some humps in the road ahead we have to work through, Mamma and Captain are pretty good at giving advice to others about their kids but when it comes to our own we´re total suckers...we spoil them rotten even though we know we shouldn´t and we don´t do everything as we should...but thankfully we see the mistakes we´re making and are doing our best to correct them before it´s too late...we want them to be decent, law abiding, caring and giving individuals who can take care of themselves and be happy in whatever they are doing. Isn´t that what every parent wants for their kids? It´s a hard job though...they have their own opinions and meanings as to what is right and wrong and we butt heads more then once or twice about things and getting the youngest to understand that as long as they live here we decide and that we´re deciding in their best interest isn´t always easy to get them too understand but we can´t give up...someday they will see that we´re doing our best because we love them. At least we hope they will see that...hehehehehe....

What are your dreams and hopes for 2013? What would you like to see more of in my blog in 2013?

Until next time my friends....be well...be merry...be safe....

Christmas Cheer, Granola, and A Little Norsk

2012-12-20T11:11:00.000+01:00

As promised here comes a lighter post with some Christmas cheer! I also thought I´d finally give in and try to add some Norwegian in my post for my Norwegian readers. Please don´t laugh though, I´m not perfect in Norwegian so when I write something wrong, just try and understand what you think I meant to say or read the English version for correct translation ;-)

Som lovet her kommer en lettere blogpost med litt Jule glede! Jeg tenkt også at jeg skulle endelig prøve meg på litt Norsk for mine Norsk lesere. Være så snill og ikke le da, jeg er ikke perfekt i Norsk så når jeg skriver noe galt, bare prøve å forstår hva du tro jeg mente eller lese den Engelsk del for å få riktig oversettelse :-)

I thought I would share some photos of my Christmas decorations here. I love to decorate my tree with ornaments that have meaning. Of course it´s nice with the red and gold balls as well but Christmas is a time of year where I reflect and think over the year that has gone, people who have been in my life, things I´ve done and it´s always nice to look at ornaments that remind me of something in particular...or someone in particular...the ornament underneath is one Sarah gave me one year for Christmas after my Mom passed away. She said this way Mom could always be with me at Christmas....which she is...

Jeg tenkt jeg skulle dele noen bilder av våres Julepynt her. Jeg elsker å pynte juletreet mitt med pynt som har betydning. Selvfølgelig er det fint med rød og gul kuler også men Jul er den tid av året hvor jeg reflektere over året som har gått, folk som har vært i livet mitt, opplevelse vi har hatt og det er alltid koselig å se på pynt som får meg til å tenke på noe spesifik eller noen spesifik....den pynt her er en som Sarah gitt meg et år etter Mamma døde. Hun sa at på den måte kunne Mamma min alltid være med meg i Jul....noen hun absolutt er.

I love when I´m out traveling to find ornaments that can remind me of a wonderful trip I´ve had, usually with good friends and family. Such as our trip to Paris in 2011 with the Captain´s cousin Unni and her husband Endre...such a wonderful trip!

Når jeg er ut å reise så elsker jeg å finne julepynt som kan minne meg m en fantastisk tur. Often en tur jeg har hatt sammen med gode venner eller familie. Som våres tur til Paris i 2011 sammen med Kaptein´s søskenbarnet Unni og hennes mann Endre....for en herlig tur!

I also love to remember where I come from and when I visited Texas I had to get some cowboys for my tree and as much as Norwegians love their flag on the Christmas tree, so do Americans...

Jeg også vil huske hvor jeg kommer fra og når jeg var på besøk i Texas så måte jeg kjøp meg noen cowboys å ha på juletreet. Og akkurat som Nordmenn elsker å ha sin flag på juletre det gjør vi Amerikaner....

I also love fun ornaments that make me smile, remind me of when I was a kid...or my kids were little...in fact, I love Christmas decorations all around the house that give me that childish feeling...

Jeg elsker julepynt som får meg til å smile og minne meg når jeg var et barn eller når barna min var liten...faktisk syns jeg det er gøy med julpynt over hele huset som gi meg en barnslig følelse...

I also think it´s important to remember the true meaning of Christmas as well and while not everyone in the world is Christian for those who are, Christmas was the celebration of the birth of Christ. My Dad and Mom gave me this nativity scene for my birthday, so it´s extra special for me.

Jeg syns også det er viktig å husker den ekte mening med Jul og mens ikke alle i verden er Kristen for de som er så er Jul den feiring av Jesus´s fødsel. Denne vakre julekrybbe fikk jeg av Pappa og Mamma til bursdagen min så den er ekstra spesial til meg.

I recently entered my house in a contest that is being held by a national Norwegian newspaper called Dagbladet. The contest is about who has Norway´s most Christmas house. When I´ve seen the competition, I wouldn´t say we have the most lights but I think we have a lot of Christmas feeling here and it´s just fun to show off the lights we have. I´ve actually been contacted by the local newspaper as well who want to come and do a piece on our house as well. They will be stopping by later today when the lights come on at 4PM. So that will be fun!

Jeg nylig meldt huset mitt inntil Dagbladet´s julehus konkurranse og selv om jeg vil ikke si vi har like mange lys som de andre i denne konkurranse så syns jeg vi har mye julestemning og det er gøy å vise frem de lysene vi har. Jeg har faktisk vært i kontakt med den lokal avisen også som vil kom å skrive en liten artikkel om våres hus også. De kommer senere i dagen når lyse kommer på kl 16.

I want to share a recipe with you as well before I close this very long post. I´ve only baked some almond biscotti for the ladies I work with so far this Christmas and a little bread for us. So I haven´t made a lot of stuff for obvious reasons- I´m trying to lose weight. I have promised my kids that I will bake a little we can have on Christmas day but if I bake now it will be eaten now, so we´re waiting. However, I have tried a granola recipe that is really good and I´d like to share with you. You can find the recipe HERE. I didn´t have chocolate chips so I did what I always do and chopped up a semi sweet chocolate bar and added that. I also had a little amount of peanuts which I chopped up and added as well. This recipe worked well as bars but it did crumble somewhat easy so the way I enjoyed eating this was in vanilla yoghurt with some fresh blueberries and a little crumbled granola on top. This is a little sweet but it´s Christmas, a little sweet is ok! I borrowed the photo from the recipe´s homepage since I ate mine so quickly I didn´t think to take a photo of it...hehehehe...The great thing with granola is you can really add what you´d like. If you don´t want chocolate, add raisins and nuts...the recipe is flexible like that!

Jeg vil også dele en oppskrift med dere før jeg slutte med den veldig lang post. Så langt i Jul så har jeg kun bakt mandle biscotti til damene på jobb og litt brød til oss selv her hjemme. Jeg har lovet ungene at jeg skal bake litt til Jul men om jeg bake det nå så spiser vi det nå...så vi venter. Men jeg har laget litt granola som er kjempe godt og du kan finne oppskriften for HER. Jeg hadde ikke sjokolade knapper som vanlig så jeg gjorde hva jeg vanligvis gjøre og det er å hakke opp litt dronning sjokolade. Jeg hadde også litt peanøtter som jeg hakket opp og brukt. Denne oppskriften fungere bra som bars men den smuler litte grann så jeg fant at den måte jeg likte dette best var i vanilje yoghurt med litt fersk blåbær og smule granola på toppen. Den er litt søt men det er snart Jul og litt søt er lov. Jeg har lånt bilde fra oppskriftens hjemmeside...jeg spist min altfor fort og rakk ikke å ta bilder...hehehehehe....det beste med Granola er at du kan bytte ingredienser veldig lett. Om du ikke vil ha sjokolade, så kan du bruke rosiner og nøtter for eksempel. Oppskriften er fleksible!

I am not sure I´ll find time to blog again before Christmas. I have another day of work before Christmas break and a few more things to do before the big day. In case I don´t get to blog again before Christmas I want to wish all of you the warmest Christmas wishes. I hope you will be in the loving company of friends and family this holiday season. If you´re alone, I hope it´s because you choose to be and are ok with it. If you´re working this Christmas like my honey, I hope you can find some enjoyment in the holiday, whether it´s a good meal or a good drink...or both...A very very Merry Christmas from Eventyrhus here in Norway to all of you!

Jeg er ikke sikkert jeg finner tid til å blogg igjen før Jul. Jeg har enda en dag med arbeid og noen små tinger jeg skal gjøre før den stor dagen. I tilfelle jeg ikke finne tid å blogg igjen før Jul så vil jeg ønsker dere alle den varmeste Jule ønsker. Jeg håper du vil være i den glade selskap av gode venner og familie denne høytiden. Er du alene så håper jeg det er fordi du velger det selv og trives med det. Hvis du er på arbeid i denne Juletiden slik som min kjæreste så håper jeg at du kan finne noe gleden allikevel med høytiden...enten en god måltd eller en gode drikke eller begge....En riktig riktig God Jul fra Eventyrhus her i Norge til alle sammen!

Until next time my friends....

Inntil neste gang mine venner......

Apologetic...

2012-12-17T17:02:00.000+01:00

There is a reason I usually stick to non-controversial subjects on my blog and I knew when I posted yesterday´s blog post that some people would disagree with me and that is perfectly ok. What a boring world if we all agreed on things. I also know I´m not the most eloquent writer so getting an opinion from me isn´t the most amazing thing you´ll ever read...I wasn´t expecting any writing awards or anything. The one thing I didn´t really expect and maybe I should have because I´ve seen others be so completely misunderstood before, but I was accused of being a stigmatizer from what I wrote and that one came out of left field for me.

I think perhaps I should have dropped the mental illness comments and just said, it shouldn´t be a God given right to reproduce because we´re humans and left it at that. I was pretty much accused of attacking and stigmatizing mentally ill people. It was an extremely hurtful accusation because it came from someone who has been following my blog for awhile and been a friend with me on facebook and should have known that I am not that type of person. I don´t group people under one umbrella and say everyone under this umbrella is the same. For example, I know many who think Muslims should be wiped off the earth because they are all crazy. Not my words but words I´ve heard. I disagree completely. I know many Muslims who are wonderful people and not at all crazy. It´s like saying all Americans are fat. It´s not true and it´s wrong to think you can group people under one umbrella like that. I would hope that those of you who have been following my blog for awhile know that I am a very tolerant person and I am not the type who would attack any particular group. I don´t purposely go looking for trouble which is why I usually keep my opinions to myself but sometimes things build up and you just have to get them off your chest, which I did yesterday. I thought I stated clearly that I wasn´t trying to convince anyone that my opinions were the RIGHT ones...just mine and I was airing them in my little corner of cyberspace.

But I made the mistake of mentioning a particular group because this group has been highlighted in the news recently and it hit home for one of my readers and they immediately believed I was attacking every mental person out there and grouping every mental person as violently insane and a danger to society. I was told I was ignorant when it came to mental illness and continuously made to feel like an attacker against mentally ill people regardless of how I tried to explain my point and say over and over that I didn´t group all mentally ill people under the same umbrella and that wasn´t the point of what I wrote yesterday. I apologized over and over and got no where. I felt this person was extremely hostile with me and we ended up going our separate ways in life. Sometimes that has to happen. I don´t get rid of people in my life when they disagree with me but when you constantly feel that it´s not just a matter of disagreement but a hostility no matter what you say, it´s best to walk away in my opinion. I don´t need those kinds of people in my life. I love a good discussion but I would never be little the person I was discussing with.

While I´ve made numerous attempts to apologize to this person without avail, I now offer a public apology to anyone who might have felt personally attacked with what I wrote yesterday. That was in NO WAY my intentions. Seriously, I´d rather NOT blog then blog just to make people pissed off. I was just airing my thoughts and again I more then likely did it in a non-eloquent way and could possibly have written something in a way that irritated people when that wasn´t my intentions. I´m sorry sorry sorry!!!!! I´ve also learned my lesson and will be keeping my opinions to myself and sticking to the nice non-controversial blog, I´ve been known for, in the future. Nothing but nature photos, doggy photos and the occasional kid or two...oh and a recipe here and there...safe stuff....

I appreciate the kind comments that I got also regarding yesterday´s post. I didn´t mean too just focus on the negative that came from yesterday but it caught me a little off guard. I was prepared for people to disagree with me but not to be so hostile, especially someone I´ve "known" awhile. That really threw me for a loop. Alas, live and learn....right folks?

Enough of this seriousness....my next blog post will include a recipe and a bit of holiday cheer. So hope you´ll visit again...

Until next time my friends....

Getting Some Things Off My Chest

2012-12-16T21:27:00.000+01:00

Tragically the world has been witness to yet another horrific massacre in the USA. This time precious young children with their lives still ahead of them were the innocent victims.

What is being said is the murder was mentally ill, which would seem extremely feasible as no one in their right mind would murder innocent children. The internet is jumping with debates and blog posts about mental illness and one woman in particular wrote about her struggles with a mentally ill son who she lives in fear of. I read this woman´s blog and apparently the father was also mentally ill. Now a lot of people will disagree with me and what I´m about to say but my immediate thought when I read this was, if I had two dogs I was going to breed and one was mentally ill, I wouldn´t breed that dog because the risk of getting a puppy who would also be mentally ill would be 50%! So I wonder WHY do humans think they have a God given right to reproduce regardless of whether they have a trait, such as mental illness, which could be passed on?

The other debate which is raging on the net is the 2nd Amendment and both sides are equally passionate about their stand. My question here is, why do people fight so hard to keep an amendment that was created 200 years ago when society has drastically changed from that time? What was reasonable, necessary, and practical then isn´t now. Times have changed and we´ve accepted all the changes but cling so desperately to something created hundreds of years ago.

My personal feeling is that no one outside of law enforcement need have guns. Guns have one purpose and that is to kill or injure. People say they keep them as protection. What are they protecting themselves from? Others who have guns who could possibly be mentally ill because one of their parents was mentally ill? Guns are glorified in today´s society....

There is no respect and ANYONE can get their hands on them....even children.

And while I´m sticking my neck out there and probably making a whole bunch of people angry with me and my humble opinions, I need to say that I also think the way society is going is another reason our children are in danger. Not that Mom needs to stay home with children, but our society has become so obsessed with things that BOTH parents have to work in order to afford the THINGS that everyone has and children are being left in the care of strangers at very very early ages.

When I was a daycare Mom in America I watched a baby who was 3 months old! I was with her more then her own mother and the trend is coming to Norway, babies as young as 8 months old are finding their way to the daycares and are there for long hours every day. At a time when small children need stability and a sturdy foundation in life they are being dragged to daycare so Mom and Dad can work and have money to have things.

The job of raising healthy happy children has been passed on to strangers and not valued like it once was. Why is it such an unpopular thought to have one parent stay at home and get the kids off too a great start in life? Why can´t THINGS be set aside and the more important THINGS such as happy, stabile, well adjusted children be more important? I´m sure my thoughts seem very out dated and unrealistic in today´s society but it´s a thought that strikes me every time I hear about a child involved in a killing or torture or other negative situation or a child with other issues. Where are the parents?

We were really poor when our kids were little. I remember so many times crying because we didn´t have money for food all the time, I couldn´t buy my kids all the things I wanted too, we struggled and yet I stayed home with the kids pretty much the entire time until Sarah was around 12 years of age. I did do some small jobs every now and then sporadically through the years but never anything long term and my kids always knew I was there. I would do it all over again if I had too because I think it was the best investment I could have made in my kids- being there for them.

I don´t expect anyone to agree with me, I´m not looking for a pat on the back for the decisions I made in my life, I am not looking for anything other then to get some of these thoughts off my chest and what better place to do that then in my own little corner of cyberspace- my blog! I also respect that what worked for me, what was right for me, isn´t right for everyone. I understand and respect that some people don´t have the option of having one parent stay home because they are the only parent at home or what have you, I understand there are exceptions to everything and I respect completely the right to disagree. We don´t have to agree on everything- who would want that? I´m simply saying in general...we´re moving away from the things that matter and putting too much value on things that won´t mean anything to any of us years from now. Things that won´t make us better people, won´t help us to live happy, healthy, productive lives....we´ve lost sight of what is really important...I truly believe that and I believe also that people don´t want to hear this. They want to hear whatever will allow them to keep doing what they are doing without guilt....and it´s sad but reality and I´m dealing with it...the best I can...

Until next time my friends...(if you still consider me a friend after my little hissy fit here)

City, Lights, And Dining....

2012-12-08T23:47:00.000+01:00

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”
― Robert Lynd

Today the Captain and I went to Hamar. Mostly to get out of the house. There was a market in town called Bondens Marked which is local producers selling their foods. I was a little disappointed as it wasn´t a very big market and I kinda expected it to be a little bigger because it´s getting close to Christmas. It was freezing cold and yours truly forgot her gloves..so I lost feeling in my fingers quickly. In an attempt to warm my fingers- and because it was lunch time- I talked the Captain into buying each of us an elk burger with grilled onions...the smell of grilled onions overpowered us and I was salivating just standing there waiting for my elk burger! Unfortunately though my fingers didn´t warm up while holding the hot burger and I´ve never had a burger lose it´s warmth quite as fast as this one did..never the less it was a delightful lunch!!!

Today was a beautiful day here in Nes...the sun was shining and the skies blue...later in the day the sun was setting and the frost from the lake was rising...I can never get enough of the beautiful nature around here..

This evening the Captain and I went outside and were playing around with long exposure shots on the camera. That was super fun and I could have stayed out a long long time but again, forgot my gloves! Will I ever learn?

After coming in I made us a lovely meal which I came across while browsing Pinterest! The recipe...if you can call it that is here. She doesn´t really give you exact amounts on everything so I kinda winged this a little. I used one whole garlic clove in the amount of butter she recommended, then added a small glass (about two heaping tablespoons) of tomato paste and then one can of crushed tomatoes with garlic. I then added a teaspoon of salt and brown sugar- stirring all the time and then some parsley and basil. Let this slowly cook and then add half and half which is basically half cream and half milk. I only had light milk so I used this. My sauce was quite thick but really good. The family wanted to add some more salt, so you can do what you feel for but I prefer less salt. Finally I shredded some parmesan and pecorini cheese into the sauce and let this all slow cook together for maybe 10 minutes.

After letting this slowly cook up, add your scampi and cooked linguine and serve! Delicious!

I´m trying really hard not to think about my honey leaving on Monday...but I know he´s leaving and it´s making me a little sad. The holidays are rough from before and this year he will be gone. Every other year they have to give up Christmas and work. This is his year...so much fun being a sailor´s girl ;-)

Tomorrow Sarah is coming for a short visit! That is great and I´m so happy she will be here even though I´ll be working two of the days she is in town, still it will be nice to see her in the evenings. We might go to the movies on Wednesday. The local theater is showing The Hobbit and The Five Legends. Anyone seen these? Which do you think we should see?

Until next time my friends...

Welcome Christmas 2012

2012-12-07T18:35:00.000+01:00

"Christmas is sights, especially the sights of Christmas reflected in the eyes of a child." -- William Saroyan

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." -- Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall." -- Larry Wilde

"Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given -- when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes." -- Joan Winmill Brown

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'til his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?" -- Dr. Seuss

Until next time my friends....

A Different Lasagna And A Homecoming

2012-11-18T19:34:00.000+01:00

So this has been a wild few days and I thought I´d wind down tonight by bringing you a new post. It´s been awhile and so here I am and tonight I have some goodies for you.

First of all I made this recipe HERE for dinner tonight. However, I made it a little more mine by adding salmon. The original recipe is meat free so if you´re looking for a semi vegetarian dish this could work, there is cheese in here, but otherwise meat free. The salmon was really nice and this dish was really good. It wasn´t great, it wasn´t WOW...but it was good. It was different but we all agreed it was good!

My family has complained that I haven´t been baking like I use too, which is true. I have really taken a huge break and yeah I miss it and I know they miss it but I´m working on this new lifestyle so I´ve been trying to be good. However, this past weekend, life got crazy and I decided we all needed a treat....and I have been wanting to check out this recipe HERE. I would have taken photos of the ones I made but they didn´t last long enough for me to find my camera.....so you´ll have to deal with the photo from the recipe...looks yummy huh?

This is like taking rice krispie treats to a new level....here you have white chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate chips (or dronning sjokolade is what I used here in Norway) and mini marshmallows.....YUM...and yeah, like I said, these didn´t last long and my children thankfully ate the majority of them. :-)

As I mentioned the last few days have been crazy. We´ve been going round and round with our co-owner of our Leonberger female, Birdy. They live between 8-9 hours away from us (one way) which was mistake number one and a mistake I´ve really regretted pretty much since we sent her. However, my feeling at the time we let her go was that she would have a great life on this couple´s farm, she would be the only dog, get all the attention and everything would be great. The couple promised me loads of photos since we lived so far away and I did get a few in the beginning and less and less as time went on. They claimed they weren´t good at taking photos or putting them on the internet but they assured us she was doing great and the few photos we did get, she looked good. However, early this spring the couple separated and the woman, who we had gotten the impression did the most with Birdy, left the farm and moved into an apartment and couldn´t have Birdy with her. She sent us some mails in the beginning of her separation and assured us Birdy was doing fine and we asked for photos, which we never got. After awhile of trying to get photos from the ex-wife, we were told she could no longer be the middle man for us and if we wanted any information on Birdy we had to contact her ex-husband. So we did....several times. He always had excuses that his ex-wife had taken the camera and computer so he had nothing to take or send photos with. Once he told the Captain that his ex was coming over for dinner and he would have her take photos. We never got anything...so when the Captain came home from sea he called again and the man again acted shocked his ex hadn´t sent photos and said again that he had nothing to take photos with. The Captain asked him if he had a camera on his phone to which he said yes...so the Captain asked him to take photos with his phone. "Yeah, on the next nice weather day" he would....the Captain said no, he wanted photos as soon as possible. He gave this guy my number but I didn´t get anything. I sent a message saying we wanted photos of her head and her body by the next day. I got no response to my text message, so tired of playing this game with him, I contacted the Norwegian animal welfare office near where the man lived. I told them my concerns and they sent someone out to check on Birdy the same day. We were sent the following photos:

I spoke with the man who had gone out to see her and he said that she was VERY thin and her hair was scruffy but in their opinion not a case they were going to do anything more with but I could look at the photos and decide myself what I wanted to do. Birdy has always been an elegant Leonberger, never a powerfully built female but she was incredibly skinny and when we saw her feet you could see she hadn´t been groomed in a long while. Those fluffy hairs between the toes don´t grow overnight and if they looked like that, what were her nails like?

The Captain contacted the man who had Birdy and he was upset we had contacted the welfare organization. He felt it was for people who abused their animals and he didn´t feel that defined him. He loved Birdy and enjoyed her company. The Captain told him he needed to have her groomed and send us new photos by Monday but before he could continue the man said NO. He wanted to return Birdy, he thought we were too demanding when it came to photos!! This was the only request we had of them the entire time they had Birdy and they knew it when they took her that we wanted regular photos to see how she was since they lived so far away. As the Captain said, he didn´t really want her anymore when he was willing to give her back over photos! So on Friday the Captain and Julia drove to pick Birdy up and when they got her the Captain called me and told me she was the skinniest he had ever seen her and we had done the right thing getting her.

There has never been any doubt we needed to get her home, but it´s going to be a challenge having her here. The reason she left in the first place was because she and our other female, Isabella, who are only three months apart in age, do not like each other. They are both dominant females and would like to be Queen in the house. Now that they have both been Queen in their respective homes for the last 2 years, we will have quite the work cut out for us getting Birdy back into our gang but our hope is to have it like it was before she left, where they all managed to be together in the same room as long as we were there. We just couldn´t leave them alone together. So we hope to get back there, slowly but surely. No matter what, we will more then likely keep Birdy here. She is 6.5 years old and I´m too afraid to chance her happiness by setting her in another co-owner home and risk that I make a mistake again. People will say and do anything to get a "free" dog and I am too trusting.

Here are some photos I took this afternoon as we were grooming Birdy...they aren´t that good as she moved a lot..but it gives you an idea. Below those photos I´ll post a photo of how she was before she left us.

Birdy today November 18, 2012

Birdy in 2009 and 2010.

This is by no means an ideal situation but part of being a responsible dog owner is owning up to your responsibility as long as you own the dog and we have a responsibility to Birdy and plan on trying to make up this time she has been away, the best we can. We were looking forward to having less BIG dogs and concentrating more on the small dogs in our life but this is the curve ball life has dealt us and we will deal with it the best we can and do our best for all the dogs living here. The most incredible thing was getting an email today from the ex-wife who I had written too for a week or two ago asking where the photos were she had taken? She wrote tonight (obviously not knowing we had Birdy) giving me MORE excuses why she couldn´t get me photos of Birdy but that she had seen her not too long ago and she was doing just fine so I had no reason to worry!!!! I wrote back and gave her a piece of my mind! I was so angry. I probably should have just ignored her, because people like that will never understand what they have done wrong but I couldn´t help myself...here I was being lied too and I was finally aware of the lies! I had thought it was just the man who was stringing us along all the time but when the ex-wife wrote this too me tonight, I was so angry because obviously she has been stringing us along as well and she was the one I had trusted the most of the two of them!

Well, that is an update from the woods of Norway. Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of cyberspace! Hope you´ll come back again!

Until next time my friends...

Livin´ Healthy And Eatin´ Good!

2012-11-12T18:16:00.000+01:00

So I thought I´d share with you dinner tonight....or some of dinner...some of the dinner is pre-made. I know it´s a big no no to buy already pre-made food, but in a hurry sometimes it´s ok. We´re doing fish cakes which we bought at the store. Quality fish cakes with over 60% fish...100% would be ideal but again- in a hurry, this isn´t a bad option. The family is going to eat their fish cakes like fish burgers, complete with whole grain hamburger buns. However, Mamma is skipping the hamburger buns and doing roasted cabbage and a little quinoa something or another. I´ll share the quinoa idea with you later after I figure out what exactly I´m going to do. That is the beauty with Quinoa, it´s kinda like rice and there isn´t a lot of flavor, so it´s pretty much up to your fantasy what you want to do with it. I found this recipe for roasted cabbage HERE.

Martha used caraway seeds (Karve frø in Norwegian) but I chose to use a new spice I bought here called rosette garlic and chili and a little sea salt. I´d tell ya how it tasted but it´s in the oven roasting right now...so you´ll get an update with the quinoa recipe next time!

Then my mind started wandering too tomorrow. I have a long day, first work, then my weight loss course. So I won´t be home until 7PM and so I need energy to keep me going all day. I went to my favorite place to look for recipes- PINTEREST....and found this little baby...

So I´m taking this with me for lunch tomorrow...or maybe I´ll do some fish for lunch as I bought some lovely smoked trout that I could do something with...and this for my dinner? Either way, this meal will be consumed by me tomorrow and I´m already drooling! Funny too, I actually bought some chorizo this afternoon not knowing I would be making this tomorrow....I think it´s destiny! You can find the recipe at this lovely blog HERE. I came to her blog for the brussel sprouts but I have seen loads of yummy low carb/no carb meals in here that will keep me coming back :-)

So when you´ve got a long day at work, what do you pack in your lunch box?

Until next time my friends...

Packaging In Breakfast

2012-11-11T10:56:00.000+01:00

I have been ill the past week. I think it´s sinus...I´ve said to people, if I could take my head off I´d be fine....contemplating calling the doctor tomorrow and asking for sinus tablets. If I lived in America I could buy them over the counter. Tylenol Cold and Sinus...how I miss you....but here in Norway I have to go through a doctor first....and too finally get some relief, I´m extremely tempted to do just that and call my doctor tomorrow.

I´ve not exercised once this past week and have been scared to death that I´ve put myself back a couple weeks as far as weight loss goes...which has depressed the heck out of me..I haven´t dared to look at the weight scale and was thinking last night that if I can get back on track today and tomorrow, then maybe my weight wouldn´t be so bad when I go in for my official weigh in Tuesday. However, when I woke this morning the temptation to check my weight couldn´t be resisted and I jumped on the scales...only to find to my shock and delight that I haven´t gone up or down since last Monday! So by some miracle I´m no worse off then I was a week ago and can basically pretend this past week never happened and keep going!!! I´m so happy and relieved by this news!

Even though I still don´t feel in exercise form, I´m back on track with the food and this morning I decided to try an idea I had seen on the net which was so cute....

However, I wanted more stuff IN my egg mixture....so I fried up some fresh spinach in a little olive oil and garlic pepper. I mixed some eggs, put in a couple tablespoons of low cal cottage cheese, the spinach, cut up red onion...and voila....a healthy yummy egg mixture packaged so nicely!

The only problem I had with this neat little packaging is while I only made 2 eggs a piece for the Captain and I, I couldn´t get all the egg mixture in the red pepper. I probably cut the rings too small and next time could cut them a little thicker and then they could hold more egg mixture but today I just ended up making a little omelet on the side...

Still a healthy yummy breakfast :-)

Christmas is around the corner and every year I feel the same way....I´m excited as heck about the decorating and the family time and I HATE the shopping pressure! If it were any other month, I´d love buying stuff for people but I hate having a specific date that I HAVE to have bought something by or it just isn´t Christmas...maybe this is just my view on this...and some people have managed to get around the shopping pressure at Christmas. If you´re one of them, I´d love to know how you manage to have a great Christmas without the pressure of shopping??

I´m really seriously wanting a tree like this for Christmas this year. I have a plastic tree, which I could place in front of my window and then get a tiny real Christmas tree to place on my roof, right above where my inside tree is....that would be SO FUNNY!!! Nothing like making people smile for the holidays right? I think we do a lot of outside decorating for Christmas, but I´m always hoping to add more each year....

It´s so dark here in the woods during the winter and having the Christmas lights makes the whole forest so much more cozy and warm...this year I´m contemplating if I want to add lights to a tree on our property or the new fence....hehehehe....yes, it will cost an arm and a leg for the electricity bill, but Christmas comes but once a year and it´s so worth it!

Until next time my friends....

Always And Forever

2012-11-07T20:44:00.000+01:00

Today I´ve been home sick from work. Anytime I´m feeling down or sick I miss my Mom extra much. Today has been no different and my Mom has been in my thoughts all day....

My Dad told me that the song in this video was "their" song...but when I hear it I can´t help but think of her...so in a way it´s become "her" song for me....

Until next time my friends....

Keeping It Real

2012-11-05T20:29:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned earlier, this new lifestyle is working out pretty good. I think about everything I eat but I don´t get crazy. If you look up on google what you should eat for a healthy lifestyle, one article will say stay away from such and such....while the next article says eat lots of such and such...you can easily go crazy if you try to follow all the advice and scientific studies as to what you should or shouldn´t eat. So I´ve adopted a common sense approach. Using common sense and keeping the portions small. I´ve tried to not eat that many carbs, especially the quick carbs...but I don´t freak out if I do eat some....I just try to limit how much I eat...

Tonight I tried some recipes I found online. The one recipe I only got part of and so I decided to just make up my own....this involved taking 4 chicken breasts and slicing them in strips. Dipping them in flour and then shaking them off....putting them in a baking dish and pouring over a combination of BBQ sauce (your favourite) and a tablespoon of honey. I then added four small butter squares on top. Stuck it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at about 200C (400F) taking it out once to turn it around and drizzle the sauce over the chicken. This was tender and delicious!!

The other part of dinner was zucchini fries. If you haven´t tried zucchini fries yet, I strongly suggest you give this recipe a try: HERE. I used panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and Italian spices...rolled my egg dipped zucchini in the above mixture and then laid them on baking paper on a cookie sheet. Baked them at 200C for about 10 minutes on the bottom rack. My son was extremely anxious about the green stuff...so he only took one when he sat down at the dinner table. However, once he tried it he jumped quickly up and went back for more. :-) I can tell you now there wasn´t a zucchini fry left in the house! Even the Captain had seconds!!!! :-) I served the whole thing with fresh pineapple.

Still working on getting things working on my computer again, so sharing my Instagram photo with you tonight. Yeah, it was as good as it looks :-)

Today I purchased a pair of spinning shoes or biking shoes. Yeah- I´m that hooked on spinning! Who would have known? Here I was scared to death of the thought of spinning and I actually like it! I was at a class last night and when the instructor was telling us about the various songs and what we would be doing, I stopped a little up when she said we would have one song where we would stand for 6 minutes! I mean 6 minutes doesn´t sound long...but I thought I was gonna die! Thankfully a friend who was taking the class with me saw I was struggling and encouraged me! I promised her someday when I can breathe through those exercises I´ll encourage her back!! hahahahaha...but it was seriously great to hear her tell me to keep going....I did what I could to keep going...even though I admittedly had to sit several times during the 6 minutes I tried to get up as quick as possible...so I was pleased with my effort!! Now with my new snazzy biking shoes I´m sure I´ll do better ;-)))

Tomorrow I´ll be working late shift, so I am going to have to pack a lunch and a dinner as I´ll have to go straight to my Easylife course right after work. So I´m trying to think what to pack. Any ideas? I´m thinking I might take out another chicken breast and do something with that for dinner and I bought some lovely roast beef which I might try and make some sort of lunch out of...so if you have any ideas for chicken or roast beef let me know :-)

Had to share a photo of my little guard dogs. If you´re friends with me on facebook, I apologize for the repeat photo but it´s too cute not to share....someone said on facebook that it looks like they are waiting on Santa....and Santa will be coming soon...so that could have been a possibility, but actually they are just keeping an eye on things outside...no one passes without them knowing about it!!!

Until next time my friends....

Silence

2012-11-03T08:29:00.000+01:00

Let me start by saying, life is pretty good these days....my weight is slowly going down, I feel really at peace with the whole process. My biggest challenge is the exercise because....I admit it, I´m lazy. If I could lose weight without the exercise I would do that...but I understand fully it´s a package deal...so I´m doing my best. The food part is easy. I´m having a blast finding healthy things to eat which aren´t just salads! So in this area of my life, things are great!

The Captain also came home recently which is also wonderful! Nothing like absence to make the heart grow fonder and we certainly get enough time apart so fondness is never a problem! Kinda like newlyweds each time we´re together only with the added benefit of the safe feeling of a long time relationship which just gets stronger for every day.

I can´t get into details but there are areas of my life which are bothering me greatly...areas with which I feel I can´t say anything and yet I want to scream my discontent on the highest mountain....

In some ways these problem areas aren´t really anything I can do about, which makes them even harder to deal with. I´m just having to learn to deal with them and it´s not easy because I disagree with so many aspects of these problem areas and yet don´t feel I have a voice...

I sometimes feel like I´m alone in how I feel, even though I know that many others could probably relate...if only I could speak about my problems...but I can´t....

I´m not trying to be mysterious or make anyone think that I can´t function in my daily life because I have these issues that bother me. I would love to talk about how I´m feeling openly but sometimes by law you can´t publicly give details about certain things..I´m just trying to talk publicly about something that I feel forced to keep silent about...and it often comes out sounding very ominous...

Like many mothers out there, I feel a lot of times like I´m doing everything I can to keep my head above water....

Overwhelmed by all the responsibilities, the endless tasks, the constant dependency it feels the world has upon you...the never feeling you can really think of yourself because you need to be somewhere, do something, be something, help someone....never ending...and yet you can´t complain...it´s how life is...you just have to keep riding the ride....

Sometimes I feel like running away....to places where I don´t know anyone...where I don´t feel any responsibility, where no one expects anything from me because they don´t know me....where no one can find me.....

Of course it´s not realistic, but I often say I understand the beauty of the life of a Gypsy...just wandering, without any roots, without any bonds holding you in one place...like waves on an ocean...constantly moving...and never bound....

Sometimes I wish I could speak my mind. Inside I have a million opinions about things but I keep silent...

I think there are a lot of people out there, who keep silent, rather then open their mouth about things and say how they feel. I don´t think I´m alone in that aspect. But it´s frustrating. All the things you want to speak your opinion about eat you up from the inside...

People say, honesty is the best policy...but do they really mean it? People say they want to hear the truth, that getting things out on the table is best...but is it really? I think people want to hear the truth if it´s rosy sweet and wonderful but not if it´s critical in any way. I hear people say they want to hear the truth no matter what and when they hear it, they smile, go their way and then bitch behind closed doors about what they heard. They didn´t want to hear the truth...they wanted the rosy version of the truth....or just plain silence...

I´ve seen this all too many times to think any differently, even though I constantly live in hope that someday I will be surrounded by people who can handle the truth...even if it´s not packaged in a pink ribbon with sugar on top....

How do you deal with things that bother you, with which you feel you have no power to do anything about? That sits inside you and eat you up from the inside? How do you turn a negative into a positive even if the object you hope to change, never really changes??

Until I´ve figured out the answers to those questions, I just enjoy the silence...try and block out what I can´t change or do anything about and appreciate the moment....

I want to ask you to not read this and feel like I´m in dire straights here in the woods...I have stuff on my mind. I have stuff that bothers me. I have stuff I hate but can´t do anything about. I have responsibilities and things I wish I could run away from. Who doesn´t experience any of the above or all? But life goes on, you go on, I go on...we learn how to deal with things sometimes just by going through them. Sometimes there is no answer. Sometimes there is no advice that can help, you just have to experience it and act in the moment...but everything moves forward...whether we like it or not...

I wish you all a wonderful weekend....until next time my friends....
(ps- all the beautiful photos you see in this post are borrowed from the internet. The Captain will get my computer fixed soon so I can start uploading my own photos..until then I´m a borrower..)

Leftover Soup

2012-10-26T08:31:00.000+02:00

In Norwegian this is actually called Kjøttsuppe (Meat soup) but it´s basically leftover soup. Any meat leftovers you have will work perfectly in this soup- so the only challenge in this is your fantasy! Another reason this post won´t be that long because there is no specific recipe here, this is up to you but I´ll let you know what I did.

I used one pork chop which we had leftover from dinner the night before. I used 1 package of ground pork which I made into tiny meatballs with some garlic, onion, egg, and bread crumbs and Italian spices. Then I took low fat sausages and cut them into tiny pieces. This was my meat. Then I cut up one small package of sweet peas, a half of a yellow onion, 1 small carrot, half of a cauliflower and half of a broccoli, 4 small potatoes, and half a head of green cabbage. Add the veggies to 2.5liter of water and 4 cubes of beef bullion. Let this cook up a bit, add a dash or two of worchestire sauce, a dash of hot chili sauce, and a dash of low salt soy sauce. Again let this cook up a bit on a medium heat...then add your meat and let the whole thing just melt together for as long as you manage to wait. I waited from morning til evening so all the flavors were so strong and good together :-) I also added a few bay leaves too!

So easy, so good!

Until next time my friends.....

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

2012-10-23T20:27:00.001+02:00

Hear Ye, Hear Ye...I have news! First of all, thanks to all of you who have been commenting and sending your support for my attempt at a healthier life. Amazing how the kind and encouraging words of strangers can make such a difference!!! THANK YOU!

I apologize for not updating more often but I´ve hit a snag. My computer won´t allow me to upload anymore photos onto my PIcasa and so I´m not able to edit my photos and I´m not computer-intelligent enough to understand how to get things taken care of so I can start editing photos again, so I´m waiting for my fix-it-man, aka The Captain, who will be arriving next week. So be patient with me and please forgive me for all the borrowed photos you´ll be seeing in the posts this next week! :-)

So onto the news...today I was at my Easylife program. As those of you who are following me know, we meet every Tuesday for a weigh in and a lesson on nutrition, exercise, or general health. Then we have an exercise class. We try new things every week so that perhaps we find something we´ve never tried before and like it....tonight´s class was Spinning. I have to admit to you all that I´ve had a deep fear of spinning for as long as I can remember. I´ve never been on a spinning bike but honestly never understood the concept or the difference between a spinning bike and a regular exercise bike except that you control the intensity on a spinning bike while on an exercise bike you usually run a computer operated program. I also heard with spinning they sometimes stood up on a bike and pedaled and I was thinking that would be an impossible feat for me. When the Captain and I bike with regular bikes he always tells me to stand up on the hills and use my legs more to bike but I´m so uncoordinated that I am always afraid to crash...so I don´t stand on a bike....I pedal hard...so that scared me a little about spinning....

BUT.....tonight our group had a spinning class and I have to say.....I was surprised to find myself liking it :-) I have to admit it´s partly because I PERSONALLY control the intensity and so yes, I have a much better chance of "cheating" and not pushing myself as hard....which sounds horrible when you´re suppose to really push yourself in exercise! However, with that said, I DID work up quite the sweat and felt I really got a great workout. So my verdict is...I will definitely try it again...I think maybe our trainer tonight ran us kinda easy because he wanted us to like it and try it again....the next trainer might be a nightmare...but I will try!!! In my 45 minute class I burned off 450kcal. So I figured that was dinner which was homemade tomato soup and meatballs which I blogged about HERE. So after I got home and had a nice warm shower I made this little treat for my evening meal:

This is a piece of low carb bread which I made from a mix I bought at the store, low fat cottage cheese, cherry tomatoes and red onion. I have to admit, I´ve used cottage cheese in lasagna but never just eaten it on bread like the above photos shows. Not sure I thought I´d like it without the tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese I use with lasagna but it´s actually pretty good on it´s own and I try to give it a little Italian kick with the red onion and cherry tomatoes and a little garlic pepper sprinkled over the top of it. I used fresh basil the other night with this but forgot it tonight. The drink is a peaches and cream smoothie. Low fat vanilla yoghurt, 2tbsp cream, about a cup of skim milk, about 8 ice cubes, 1 banana and 6 peeled and sliced peaches and finally 1.5 tbsp honey.

According to my Easylife coach/trainer I´ve gone down a total of 5.7kg since I began this program the 25th of September. However, those are his numbers which he gets by weighing me in the evening, which is the heaviest time of the day to weight yourself on so I´ve been weighing myself in the morning on the same day we have our class and according to my weight numbers I´ve gone down 6.3kg which I think is perfect. I´ve also lost about 4.5cm around my waist. It´s slow going but that´s how it should be...I´m eating real food...wonderful, fantastic, REAL food...not nasty shakes and soups....I´m having a blast planning out healthy meals and trying new foods..this is how it´s suppose to be and I´m making a conscious choice every day to do the right thing. I do mess up sometimes. The weekend before last I had company and ate things I shouldn´t. This past weekend Sarah was visiting and I had some nuts and yoghurt covered raisins Saturday night...but it´s ok...I´m still losing and I´m happy....so this is the right choice for me! It´s important to live good while trying to get healthy and while my brain thinks living good involves cakes, cookies, and other yummy snacks, I´m trying to re-program my brain to find other healthy alternatives to living good and I´ll share them with you as I find them :-)

Until then my friends.....

Salmon Wraps

2012-10-15T21:00:00.001+02:00

A quick hello, just popped in to share my dinner with you tonight. I used this recipe HERE. This is in Norwegian but just copy the recipe and google translate it, will work perfectly! I didn´t follow this completely, used some different veggies but for the most part it was very similar. This photo is from the blog where I got the recipe. I also made homemade guacamole with the following recipe you can find HERE. Again it´s in Norwegian but just google translate :-) I also used whole grain tortillas we can get in the stores here. So this is a healthy and filling meal. Happy Eating....

Until next my friends...

Tomato Soup With MEATBALLS!!

2012-10-11T21:23:00.000+02:00

I bought a couple low carb cook books. Not because I plan to do a low carb diet but it doesn´t hurt to keep the carbs to a minimum. Your body needs some but not a lot and your body needs the right carbs...staying away from the quick carbs like white bread, white pastas and rice are best...but let´s not get fanatical about this ok? ;-)

So I found this recipe for a tomato soup with meatballs in this book I bought which in Norwegian is called LAVKARBO-husmannskost written by Anna Hallèn. I have been use to making my own tomato soup with roasted peppers, garlic, and onion but decided to give this one a try. I halved the soup as we´re only three and there was enough for four servings (lunch tomorrow!!!) Here is what I did:
Make your meatballs: I used ground pork, I mixed in a quarter yellow onion finely chopped, 3 garlic cloves finely chopped, and a quarter orange pepper finely chopped. I also used a tbsp of bread crumbs. The recipe called for "Husk" which it defined as psyllium seed (I tried googling this word and it kept coming up psyllium...so if anyone has an idea what I´m talking about here let me know...hahahahaha...)So I just used bread crumbs- remember we´re not getting fanatical about carbs right? I was also going to use 1 egg but discovered we were empty for eggs. So I used a few dashes of cream until the mixture was sticky enough to roll into balls. I fried these up in unsalted butter (just a tbsp) and then sett the balls aside.

In a pot, sauté half a yellow onion finely chopped, 1 garlic clove finely chopped, 3 sides of an orange pepper finely chopped, about 1tbsp finely chopped fresh basil, 1.5 tsp of dried thyme(use fresh if you have, I didn´t) After the onions soften a little add about 0.5 dl of dry white wine, 2 boxes of crushed tomatoes, 1.5dl cream, 1 dl water, and 1.5 blocks of vegetable bullion. Mix well and let this simmer- the longer the better so all the flavors marry. I didn´t add salt to this soup but I used garlic pepper to season with. Add the meatballs after awhile and the drippings from the meatball pan and mix well. Serve with a little dash of creme fraichè and serve! I didn´t serve my soup with any bread but by all means, serve a delicious good bread with this soup and it will totally complete the meal.

This was a super delicious soup which I was very satisfied with after I was done with, even without the bread! The meatballs help you to feel full from this soup. And let´s face it folks, nothing tastes better on a cool fall day then a piping hot bowl of hearty soup!

Until next time my friends...

Easy Way To An Easylife...

2012-10-10T21:02:00.000+02:00

Finally a chance to update my blog. We´ve been busy this past weekend with dog shows in the letohallen near Oslo. We went both Saturday and Sunday and showed little Harley...

Our competition was sweet little Nova, a little princess who lives at kennel Ting-ge-ling where Cookie comes from...

We´re happy to announce that Harley was Best in Breed both days and sweet Nova was the Best in Opposite sex!!! :-))

On Saturday after the show we went and visited Sarah and Pål and decided to have lunch with them. Yes, you heard correctly...lunch...real food, no liquid shakes or soups...NO...I have NOT given up my battle of the bulge, but I came to the decision that the liquid diet part was NOT for me. I kinda always knew it wasn´t the right way to go down in weight but I was blinded by the big numbers others around me were losing in such a short time and I wanted the same results...but that week that I was on the liquid diet, I was so depressed and so funky feeling. It was like constantly running my nails down a chalk board, it wasn´t right and I knew it but I kept doing it...until Saturday when I said enough was enough. We went out to lunch at JordbærPikene (Strawberry Girls in English) and I ordered a chicken and bacon salad with feta cheese and I ate half of what was served to me. I ate slowly, enjoying every bite of REAL food...it was wonderful. I´m not one to do something half way, either all the way or not at all and so since I was back on real food, I decided to be back on real food for every meal and not use the shakes at all. The last few days I´ve been eating a lot of veggies in salads and proteins in the form of fish, turkey, and moose! I´ve tried to stay away from carbs as much as possible but I´m not going to be fanatical about them. A little is ok and preferably the healthy carbs not the quick carbs like white pasta, white rice, and white breads...and anything with sugar. But if I someday eat white pasta I´m not going to freak. I´ve created my own diet, called the common sense diet. Common sense tells you what is healthy and what isn´t and I´m doing my best to stick to the healthy but if I should eventually try something unhealthy, I´m not going to freak...just jump right back in the saddle and keep going. Because this is going to be a lifestyle and a lifestyle by definition means something you do for life and hopefully life will be a good long time :-) So here is some of the food I´ve been making lately...

This yummy salad was made with QUINOA which I have talked about wanting to try before. I found it in a foreign market in Hamar in both white and red versions. This is the white and it was really good! The recipe for this is HERE.

This was dinner tonight, the quinoa salad (recipe above), chicken filet stuffed with fresh basil, mozzarella, and topped with a grilled red pepper slice and then you drizzle balsamic vinegar over the whole thing and spice with a little garlic pepper. Finally a yummy parmesan roasted cauliflower side dish which you can find the recipe for HERE.

This is my breakfast these days, two eggs, salsa, yellow or red pepper, red onion, aroma mushrooms, and spinach.

Here is the lunch I´ve been taking to work the last couple days, a yummy salad with mixed greens, red onion, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, spinach, mixed nuts intended for salads, feta cheese and turkey filet. For my dressing I use Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and some roasted garlic pepper.

Finally an idea of what I eat for my snacks these days...sweet plums, bananas, and skim milk.

According to my weight scale here at home where I weigh myself in the mornings without clothing, I was down 6 kilos in two weeks. I´m totally motivated for this lifestyle change. In fact I haven´t felt this motivated since I was on the Scandinavian Biggest Loser. I´m so grateful to eat real food and not those crappy shakes that I don´t need chips and candy and such things, just good healthy food and I´m satisfied. I´m sure there will come a day when I feel the urge for chocolate and I´m going to use common sense and get some dark chocolate which is healthier then milk chocolate. That is the key in this common sense diet of mine which I´m making up as I go....using common sense to make the right decisions. We all know what we should hold us away from, what we should eat less of...but we make the decisions to ignore them all too often and choose things we shouldn´t. It´s ok, we´re human...we make mistakes. What is important is being able to not say, "the heck with it" and just continue to eat like we shouldn´t but to get back on track right away and not beat ourselves up for the slip ups that WILL happen over a lifetime.

I want to prove that these changes I´m making on my common sense diet will be enough to help me go down, slow and easy. I want to inspire others that good healthy food is a HECK of a lot better then those stinking shakes and soups. I´m so in awe of the people I know who have been on those meal replacement shakes for months....you people are amazing!! Just had to say that...imagine when they put that determination into eating healthy food!

I´ve been walking a lot lately also and I´m trying to do a lot of strength training to build muscles which will help burn fat. Maybe I´ll become some muscle woman and start lifting cars or something....hahahaha, no...just kidding...;-)

I´ve gotten such great support from you reading and those around me and I know I´m going to keep going down, slowly but surely!!! A reader asked me where I got wild rice here in Norway. I shop at the Grønt og Godt (Green and Good) which is a foreign market in Hamar. Often foreign shops have a lot of things that aren´t found in regular stores in Norway. So hope you have one nearby you can check out!

Have a wonderful day where ever you are in the world and thanks for stopping by my little corner of cyberspace....

Until next time my friends...

Autumn Here In Norway

2012-10-04T16:29:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone! :-) I have loads to talk to you about but I´m going to save it for a post where I don´t have so many photos to share ;-) I don´t want to scare you away with a thousand words and a thousand photos! You´ll be here all day! Today I was driving around doing some errands and I had my camera with me. It´s autumn in Norway and absolutely one of the most magical times of the year...the colors are stunning and I´m in the mood for a warm fire in the fireplace and a good hearty soup....oh wait...I can´t have soup....yet....never the less...sit back, enjoy the photos and for being such good people I´ve got a healthy soup recipe too share with you below. Again, I haven´t tried it yet, but it´s on my list of recipes to try and if you try it before me, let me know how it goes ok?

Don´t I live in a beautiful place? Yeah....I´m one lucky girl that´s for sure! I´ll be back to share my thoughts with you soon I promise...got some dog shows coming up, but I´ll post again as soon as I can :-) In the meantime here is that yummy looking soup I promised you and the recipe is HERE. Chicken and Wild Rice Soup....oh man...my aching stomach...I WANT SOUP!!!!!

Until next time my friends......