Monicas English version

Aaaargh!

2010-03-02T14:29:00.001+01:00

Hello everybody!

I have been having some trouble with commercial comments coming in… and chinese comments etc… I have no idea why this is… Let me just say it frustrates me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will try to get rid of them…. so that this blog can be what it used to be once!

See you later!

seasons are changing….

2009-11-03T14:19:00.001+01:00

It seems like yesterday I was looking forward to summer and warmer days! NOW the summer is over and Christmas is just around the corner.. the stores are filling up their shelves with christmas decor, paper-napkins with x-mas decor, candles, dolls and santas!!! where did summer go??? and what happened to fall???? urgh! TIME FLIES!!!!!

Oh well, I guess we just have to follow the season and be happy!!

So I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane with you, and show you some summer photos as promised!

This one is taken from my kitchen window, and I really enjoy this view!!

This is ME relaxing outside! ;-) still waiting for summer to kick in!

SO, summer came, and off we went on a looong drive to visit my sisters in laws houses….

after driving for two days, we were finally there

YAY!! that’s our car in front of one of the sis-in-laws house.

Mid-summer, we light bonfires and have a barbeque with friends and family, this year we were at my husbands sisters house, and had alot of fun!

Right smack in the middle of nowhere it seems… hehe

Still.. we were just a few minutes from their house! A lovely place!

Only problem with being out this late at night are all the mosquitos!!! I HATE them!

yes, it was late at night, although it seems like day-time photos…. rememeber this is the land of the midnight-sun!!! And the further north you go, the more sun you have during the night.. during summer that is… during winter, they have alot less sun!!!!

**** to be continued***

Monica

I am back!!!! :-)

2009-10-26T11:08:00.001+01:00

HELLO EVERYONE!

I thought I’d let you all know I am still here…. just haven’t been in the blog-mood lately…. I have been all out of blog-material…

BUT now we have turned the clock back one hour, and the days are getting shorter (in daylight) and the evenings seem longer, so I guess that’ll help me a little to get back on the blog.

I haven’t excactly been out there taking too many photos, but I will see what I can come up with in my next post… will have to download some photos…

I have been enjoying getting to know some of you a little better as we have been playing games on Facebook.. it has been alot of fun!! Games are fun!!

Hope you all will find your way back to my blog, and that we will see eachother alot more in the days to come…

I can’t believe x-mas is just around the corner… WOOOW:.. time flies!!! It’s been almost a year since I told you all about how we light candles during advent! the waiting-period before christmas! :-) amazing!

Well, hope to see you around!!! and that you are all well!!

lots of hugs

Monica

A tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-07-16T01:49:00.001+02:00

Michael Jackson

What can you say that hasn’t already been said??

first and foremost, I hope those that own the rights to the photos I am using will forgive me..

I never was a Michael Jackson fan… I LOVE his music, as I loved Motown music growing up.. and I still do!!! Motown music is GREAT!

But.. here’s the thing

When I heard the tragic news of his death.. I just couldn’t believe it… I guess the whole world was in shock!

I watched the memorial on TV

and

I have watched a couple of concerts on TV since….

I have heard MORE about him now than I have ever heard before… and I am in Aw! over all the good deeds this man has done for the world and the children on it.

It has left me with many feelings that I never even knew I had for the man.

I wish I had known him!!!

I really do!!!!

Just look at his beautiful SMILE

it can melt a heart of stone

He truly was beautiful!

I have always believed that he has told the truth, somehow I have a feeling that people have been accusing him of things trying to get some money off of him… nomatter what it takes…. if it ruins his life.. so what?? People can be crule when it comes to money! REALLY crule!

I have always believed that he turned white because he was sick.. I know several people with the same diagnosis. And I have always defended him on that… even if it wouldn’t matter to either him or me wether I did or not… hehe

I just don’t like false accusations!

HIS MUSIC

it has been with us all.. if we like it or not, we have all danced to his music. I have several of his early albums…. because of my love for Motown music…

My alltime favorite must be BEN, it is sooo beautiful!

We are the world

is a good number two in my book… and there are soo many good songs, with meaningful and great lyrics… it tells us alot about what he was thinking and what occupied his thoughts.

He was great.. a wonderful and misunderstood person with a great big heart…

and it really doesn’t matter if you’re black or white… for anyone, and definately not in his case… WHY should it matter to us at all what color he was?? It’s what’s inside that matters isn’t it??

He loved animals and his NEVERLAND

he had his own little Peter Pan world where time stood still and he could be what he wanted to be!

Even if he had a great big watch there.. hehe!

I know personally that I am going to miss him….

I just hope he is at peace now!

You were loved Michael!!

******rest in peace******

Monica

Norway in it’s glory…!??!

2009-06-05T01:08:00.001+02:00

please watch them both!!

Monica

may 17th

2009-05-19T13:05:00.001+02:00

May 17th is our national day

parades for young and old

the celebration of our country

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

and a beautiful day it was…

people in their national costumes

our beautiful “bunad”

the one above is mine

there are hundreds of kinds

and they are all soo pretty.

have a great day everyone!!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Monica

Can you really blame me…??

2009-05-14T00:22:00.001+02:00

Dearest friends all over…

Can you really blame me?? I have been off the blog for a while.. tired and exhausted…..and I am so sorry I have even neglected to visit you!

But you see…

I met up with family members living a six hours drive from my house…. Lucky enough they came here..

My sister and her family…. and I just love them all to bits… especially my sisters new grand-daughter.. she’s the cutest little thing.. both her parents are deaf.. our little sweety can hear, but talks sign language!!

It was so much fun getting to meet them all again.. we haven’t met since last year..

We went for a long walk and saw many old friends and neighbours at our little home town….. it was great fun!!!

Also spotted some sheep and lambs..

Isn’t he cute??

He came closer…. I think lambs are adorable creatures!!

Well… anyway.. hooking up with long “lost” family was alot of fun, and I finnally see things start to fall back to normal, as my co-workers are getting better and coming back to work! So tomorrow I have a full day off …finnally!

the weather has turned back to normal (cold) again.. and the summer temperatures are vanished! But we had great days as long as it lasted…

This coming weekend is May 17th.. and that is our national day since 1814… and May 17th has been celebrated since the end of the 1800s….

And as I told you the “bunad” will come out of peoples closets….. go here to find out more:

http://monicas-english-version.blogspot.com/2008/11/now.html

I will promise you that there will be photos from this day…

It’s a busy day, so I am starting to think of what to eat that day.. I will have to make it ahead… and have it ready for sunday… and there will be cake of course….

speaking of cake

My husbands eldest daughter turned 18 yesterday.. and I made her a cake

take a look at this:

How did you like that??? It’s not perfect,, but I am happy with the result!

Birthdaygirl and her boyfriend look pretty happy!

These are our kids.. when they were younger.. can you spot my husbands daughter at the top??

She has been in my life since she was one year old…so she’s known me all of her life! It’s great to see her off into her own life as a grown-up… still it’s sad that time has gone by this quickly!

Pooof!

Well you guys.. there’s more to come from me.. but have to stop now .. it’s getting late!!

I have missed you! thanks for your patience!!

Lots of love

Monica

L♥ve is in the air… everywhere you l♥♥k ar♥und!

2009-05-03T23:47:00.001+02:00

¸¸.•¨¯`•*¨`*•♥.•´*.¸.•´*•♥.•´
(¯`♥´¯) .♥.•*¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥
`*.¸.*´Love is in the air.. everywhere you look around…

¸¸.•¨¯`•*¨`*•♥.•´*.¸.•´*•♥.•´
(¯`♥´¯) .♥.•*¨`*•♫.•´*.¸.•´♥
`*.¸.*´Love is in the air.. in every sight in every sound..

As you can see… things are happening in the garden! We have had such beautiful weather lately… it’s been a loooooooooong time since april was this warm in Norway.. I think I heard it mentioned.. that it’s been a hundred years or so… we have had summer temperatures.. REALLY!!! It’s been so nice!! I can’t believe it!

I look forward to getting May over with.. then it’s SUMMER!!!!

And May brings alot of things to blog about too… you will love it! So keep coming back.. the “Bunads” will be coming out of peoples closets!! .. and if you haven’t seen my post about that… be sure to come back after may 17th!

Have fun everybody! :-)

Biiiig hugs,

It’s the weekend!

2009-04-24T19:29:00.001+02:00

I have had today off from work… very nice….. but have been struggling with a terrible headache… it comes from overworked muscles in the neck and shoulder area… but I can’t complain… it has been a good day.

I have done some laundry and washed the floors… made dinner and changed the bowl for the fishes.. (it had turned green) hehe… neglected for a while poor things.

Now they’re happy!

Me and Lexi have had a nice day at home while the kids were at school and my husband at work.

Look at this face!

she’s cute huh!?

My cousine turns 40 today, and she’s in Rome with her husband… I am soooo jealous, it' sounds fantastic! Wish I has there too!!!

Well, maybe some day… I have been to Italy, but not to Rome… yet…

here are a few pictures from Florence.

A beautiful place

Go there if you ever get a chance!

Have a great weekend!

Lots of love Monica

Hello….

2009-04-20T11:55:00.001+02:00

Hello everyone!

Lately I have been very tired… and have been needing a break.. I have tried to stop by some of you from time to time… and I hope you don’t forget about me….

This weekend we spent outside most of the time, spring has come, and there are heaps of things to do with our big garden….. yesterday I had to do something I don’t really enjoy…. weeding!!! BUT it turned out great.. so I’m satisfied! :-)

I have a feeling as summer draws closer, most of us will spend alot more time outside, rather than in front of the computor.. I know I will… but know this.. I will be back, and I will stop by whenever I have the time and feel up to it!

I truly appreciate all of you and I am so glad I have found you, you are all truly amazing ladies, and it’s so fun to see how different we all are, and yet.. we like the same things! :-)

please don’t give up on me… keep coming back to give me a little push!

I am doing fine.. everything is allright.. I have been working alot.. that’s all!

AWARD TIME!!! come on over!!!

2009-04-14T00:29:00.001+02:00

I thought it was time to share some awards again!

This first one I picked up over at Tootsie ‘s she handed them out for no special reason.. and I want all my visitors to have it because to me YOU are sunshine on a cloudy day for sure!

This next one I picked up over at Karen ‘s… her blog was the first one I found over there.. and from her blog I worked my way out to all of you wonderful ladies… so sisters.. take it home!

This next one I picked up over at Jill ‘s , she also handed it out to all her visitors.. and I understand this is quite an award to get… most of you probably already have it.. but if you don’t PLEASE take it home!

NOW this one is SPECIAL.. I’m a FAN of your site… WOW! Thank you so much Ashley over at I'm Just Too Jazzed To Sleep … THIS made my day!

I just simply fell for Ashley and her site… I am so glad to have “met” her.. I adore her and the way she copes with her life! So Ashley be sure to take this back home with you!

This award can be given multiple times to each person.. and you are supposed to write the number of times you have received it under the award on your sidebar.

This one is from Marilyn over at Lavender Cottage she’s from “down under” ;-) a place I hope to visit some day…

YOU all of my blogfriends.. deserve it..

This one most of you have seen.. but if you haven’t taken it home yet please do so.. this is MY award for MY friends!

And this ones from Chandy , she also handed it out to all of her friends… and so will I…

And the last one is Also from Chandy over at WhatNowTablescapes

And this one comes with a little job!

I’ll have to list 10 honest things about ME…

1. I love my family

2. I care for my friends.. and try my hardest to stay in touch

3. I am sometimes too kind… think of others before ME

4. I work alot (because I can’t say NO)

5. I often get tired, due to muscle and back/neck pain, I have had it for 11 years now… phew!

6. I love to travel

7. I have lived in the USA for 2 years. Minnesota and California , one year each.

8. I survived the San Francisco earthquake (in –91??)

9. I simply LOVE music.. and to sing.. karaoke is FUN!!!!!

10. I enjoy remodeling, building and working on the house.. (but don’t enjoy “normal” housecleaning etc.) Give me a hammer and some nails.. YES! that is FUN!

That’s it..

Now I am passing this on to 6 friends

Elisabeth at roy's progress!

Terrie at Terrie's Lil" Piece of Serenity

Shelia at Note Songs

Ashley at I'm Just Too Jazzed To Sleep

Marilyn at Lavender Cottage

Bridget at My Silly Blog

Have a great week.. I am off to bed.. and then it’s back to work tomorrow….

I’m back.. with flowers ;-)

2009-04-10T16:11:00.001+02:00

Hello Everyone!

I am back! We’ve been away for a few days.. tomorrow I am working again, so we had to come home…..

Here are spring flowers as promised… and while we were gone I got a few good pictures of another fjord and big mountains… that will come in a later post!

And here’s some easter decor.. I didn’t do alot!

Hope you are all doing well!!

HAPPY EASTER!

Scenic as promised :-)

2009-04-06T00:34:00.001+02:00

I promised I’d find some photos for you this weekend! :-) AND here they are

SOUTH of our house

East of our house

North east of our house

North of our house

North west of our house

And to really show you west of our house.. I took a drive… to get “rid of” all the houses.. and show you the ocean… this is a fjord.. and a fjord is an arm of ocean stretching inland….

I hope you liked them :-) Some of them you might have seen before.. but they are all new photos from this weekend…

Soon I will be back showing you some spring flowers :-)

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Happy days! Happy easter! God påske!

2009-04-04T11:41:00.001+02:00

De colores, de colores
se visten los campos de la primavera.
De colores, de colores
son los pajaritos que vienen de afuera.
De colores, de colores
es el arco iris que vemos lucir.
Y por eso los grandes amores
de muchos colores me gustan ami.
Y por eso los grandes amores
de muchos colores me gustan ami.

the answer is…..

2009-04-01T23:43:00.001+02:00

Back to the bottle.. the reason I asked is that ….

Studies have shown that adults first and foremost see a couple embrasing eachother… we see the white part first-

While children will see the darker parts first… and will see 9 dolphins playing in the bottle…

AND now I bet you see them too!

Hello ya’ll ;-)

2009-03-31T00:45:00.001+02:00

Thank you all!!!

I am doing alot better.. but I am still sneezing and having a stuffed nose…

I have been working all the time though,… just a bit tired!

On top of it all.. we have 3 people that are on sick-leave at my job… and there’s just two of us left… so we are faced with alot of extra work!!! :-( NO FUN!

Anyway.. just thought I’d let you know… when the weekend comes around.. I will look for interesting photos for you!

WHAT DO YOU SEE IN THIS PICTURE??

in the meantime… stay well!

Lots of love,

Howdy!!

2009-03-27T00:23:00.001+01:00

Hello

I am sorry I haven’t been around alot this week..

I have been a bit tired.. lots of work, and I think I am getting the flu.. :-(

I still have a couple of days of work left this week, but I promise to stop by everybody as soon as I can!

Thank you all for your patience! :-)

LOVE YOU!

that’s my daughter on the trolls foot

Look what I’ve been hiding…

2009-03-24T01:44:00.001+01:00

Those of you that have followed my blog for a while have seen this big pine tree alot.. it sits straight in front of my house.. and is what I see from my livingroom. Look at the beautiful pinecones that hangs at the top

This one (below) is what I have usually posted…

Now look what happens if I don’t zoom in on the tree… there are lots of houses real close!!!

Now.. if I step outside.. and look to my left.. I see these beautiful mountains…. aren’t they just gorgious in the sunlight??

Zooming out……..

and zooming all the way out.. this is what the view is really like… even more houses!!!!

But I do have a great view.. and we love it here.. we’re really “on top of things” up here….

For those of you that have spotted something green in my garden that looks like a stranded boat… You are so right.. it is…. we “saved” it from a playground years ago.. and my kids have had alot of fun having had that boat in the garden… playing pirates etc.

The houses you can see closest to us.. are all brand new.. there used to be a small forest there.. we fought it for years… trying to keep them from building houses there.. but we lost!!! So instead of looking into a beautiful green forest.. we now have these houses to look at…. it’s ok.. but I liked the trees better!!!

It used to look like this

We had to redo the whole garden.. and lifted it up alot too.. to not “fall” into the houses below us……we even had to sacrifise that big old tree there….

I really liked it better before… don’t you??

Yippie!!!! I am DONE!!! :-)

2009-03-23T00:49:00.001+01:00

I can’t believe it.. I am actually DONE!!!!

I did it!! :-) YAY me! ;-)

I am so glad I managed to finish this… but WHAT am I going to do now??? I am so used to making these squares while watching TV…. I’ll have to start a new project I guess…

by the way each square is about 20cmx20cm.

AND I made 35 squares!!! :-)

20cm.. is that about 8-9’’??

Well anyway.. I thought I’d let you know that I really DID finish it! :-)

Have a great day everyone!

Dear friends :-)

2009-03-22T01:38:00.001+01:00

Cherished Friends
Author Unknown

God must have known there would be times we'd need a word of cheer,
Someone to praise a triumph or brush away a tear.
He must have known we'd need to share the joy of "little things"
In order to appreciate the happiness life brings.

I think He knew our troubled hearts would sometimes throb with pain,
At trials and misfortunes, or goals we can't attain.
He knew we'd need the comfort of an understanding heart
To give us strength and courage to make a fresh, new start.

He knew we'd need companionship, unselfish....lasting....true,
And so God answered the heart's great need with Cherished Friends....like you!!

Thanks to all of you! I have decided to spend a little time with my kids this weekend.. today we’ve moved around the furniture in their bedrooms.. cleaned their rooms good and just been together.. it has been fun.. and we had TACO for dinner… yum!

Have a great sunday everyone!!

An update

2009-03-19T00:37:00.001+01:00

Dear friendsThank you all so much for all your beautiful comments and your prayers for the young man that went missing….. Today….. they found him……Under the dock.. in the cold ocean…

They had searched there before.. but I guess due to underwater streams he has been moving around a little.. but luckily he “came back” and they found him….

I do say “luckily”… because most of us thought by now he had passed… and for the sake of his family, I am glad they found him, so that they now know where he is. It would just be heartbreaking if they never found him.. and the family never got an answer as to what had really happened.

And I think I ow you an explanation… some of you might have misunderstood me…

I don’t know this young man…. but I do have friends that do….I didn’t help look for him… but I have several friends that did…

But it being such a small place.. we all know someone that knows someone.. if you can understand… so in the end.. events like this affects us all… and it’s just so sad!!

Anyway.. I am proud to have such caring online friends like you!!! Thanks alot everybody!!! It meant the world to me to get all those heartfelt comments from you!!

The last few days…..

2009-03-17T12:58:00.001+01:00

I am so sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while…. BUT there has been an accident in my hometown… a young man has gone missing.. and has not been seen since saturday… when he was out having fun on a nightclub.

They have found his cellphone.. not far from the sea.. so they think he might have fallen in…

We’ve had helicopters, boats and loads of people looking for him both on land and at sea.

He’s still not found.

An being such a small place this naturally affects us all.. even though me and my family don’t know him. We still feel the sadness and the loss of his family…. I feel like HOPE is fading now…

It’s so sad.. so sad…

A preview! ;-)

2009-03-12T00:40:00.001+01:00

….. of summer in my neighbourhood…

Let me just tell you… all these pictures were taken on the same day… believe it or NOT ;-)

Majestic mountains… and the snow never leaves the mountain tops…

It’s beautiful isn’t it??

Yeah… that’s me.. putting my toes in the freezing cold ice water .. in the middle of summer….

This was taken out the car window.. at speed…It’s great isn’t it??

No.. we’re not still using viking ships to get around….. BUT we had to stop here and take pictures.. there’s this man living not far from us.. that build these beautiful ships… He’s doing such a great job….(and those are my kids playing in the lake….)

Wouldn’t it be nice to sail this lake in one of these?? Isn’t it a bit weird to think our/my forefathers were VIKINGS… and sailed in boats like this (only larger) across the oceans.. even all the way to America… I find it hard to believe…

Have a great day!!!!

Scenic….

2009-03-09T13:48:00.001+01:00

Hello!

Yesterday me and my husband went for a long walk.. and I shot some pictures, that I thought I would show you! :-)

I managed to “hide” all the houses, roads and cars nearby… so it’s not as “wild” as it seems.

This one’s (above) taken from my livingroom window…

Here’s from our walk;

It was a nice walk.. a bit cold and windy, but we made it ;-) hehe.. I am looking forward to present summer for you…when everything is green and sunny!

I will also show you our garden etc. when that time comes.. now it just looks sad, when there’s no colors! :-)

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Awards, awards, awards!!! :-)

2009-03-05T14:13:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone!

I have been given a few awards.. and I have been collecting quite a few too… SO I figured it’s time to put them all out there, before its too late…

….and THIS one from Bridget might actually be the right one for me.. if I don’t get around to it…

I don’t want to loose track of who gave me awards..so I better get started!

This cute Dory award goes to those of you that feels like bringing it home…:-)

~~~~~~~~~

Bridget also gave out this one a while back

this one is so cute

…and I think everyone on my list of blogs are worthy of this. Please take it home if you are one of those I visit as often as I can…

~~~~~~~~~

NOW THIS next one is truly beautiful… and I know of one person that just HAS to be given this award. I picked it up over at Terrie ‘s..

Isn’t it Beautiful?? All my friends are jewels… so go ahead and take it home… AND TOOTSIE.. especially you!

~~~~~~~~

The next one is from Smiling Sally… she passed it out to all visitors to her blog… and so am I…

you are all so beautiful!

~~~~~~~~

For regular commenting on shelia ‘s posts.. she handed out his great award…

and if you are one of my regular commentors.. please pick it up!

~~~~~~~~

A new friend of mine gave me this one… it’s so beautiful… Chandy over at http://whatnowtablescapes.blogspot.com/ made it and I won’t be passing it along, but you go see Chandy ,and I think she’ll give it to you ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~

This next one was given to me by Vanna over at DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

Here are the rules for this award:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.” Also put a link to their blogs and then let them know they have been selected!

Well… piece of cake.. isn’t it?? hehe

Here are my eight:

Bridget at My Silly Blog

Sally at Smiling Sally

Elisabeth at roy's progress!

Jill at Jill's Believe It Or Not

Justine at Tiney's Froggy Bloggy

Marilyn at Lavender Cottage

Shelia at Note Songs

Rue at Rue's peanut butter and jelly life

Those were my eight :-) Love you all!

~~~~~~~~

Next I got an award from my friend Marilyn (australia) in.. yes Australia… She thinks I’m creative :-) yay ME! (haha)

and it goes like this

*Here are the award rules:
List 7 things that you love and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love!
Be sure to tag them and let them know they have won!
You can copy the picture of the award and put it on your sideboard letting the whole world know.....you are KREATIV!

Allright… 7 things I love:

1. I LOVE MY FAMILY and FRIENDS

2. I love to travel… wish I could do more of it…

(this is Alnwick Castle, where Harry Potter was filmed)

3. I love christmas.. it brings such joy!

4. I love my cell phone… it helps me stay in touch.

(wish this was mine)

5. I love music and my piano.. that used to belong to my grandmother… it’s beautiful

6. I love my home and garden….

7. I love colors.. and to draw and paint.

AND now I am passing this on to:

Jessica at THE COZY KETTLE

Pat at Back Porch Musings

Chris at Welcome Friends to Chris's Corner

Nikki at Blah, Blah, Blah, blog

Vanna at DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

Tootsie at TOOTSIE TIME

Rachael at Mom Cooks & Reads Books

AND NOW I have to get busy.. telling you all! ;-)

Have fun!

Lots of love and friendship,

Colors….. so much fun!

2009-03-02T10:38:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone…

Thought I’d show you something funny!

I bought a new camera a couple of years ago.. and with that camera I can pick one color and replace it with another…

I accidently caught my eyecolor, and made my own eyes orange.. so I thought I’d try a few other colors too!

hahaha.. I thought it was alot of fun!

~~~~~~~~

Here are a few pictures taken from my house….

Nature has it’s way of showing off too in all kinds of colors…

~~~~~~~~

So does roses

A little bit of sunshine

And the bud becomes a rose...

A little bit of kindness

And a friendship blooms and grows

Have a beautiful day everyone!

...and thank you for stopping by…

Half way there…

2009-02-28T01:18:00.001+01:00

I haven’t had as much time as had wished for with this project of mine.. but thought I’d show you the part that is DONE :-)

Have a good weekend everyone.. so glad to have you stop by!!

It’s night time for me…Look at this..

(sorry couldn’t hold the camera steady enough to make it as clear as I wanted)

Love,

Cheese- cake!! Mmmmmm!!!!

2009-02-24T22:51:00.001+01:00

This is probably something you make alot more than me.. but here it goes….

Let’s make some cheece cake.. the Norwegian way! :-)

I use Digestive for the bottom of the cake

Crush them in the blender

Voila!!

melt some butter ( I never measure) in the microwave..

mix into the crushed digestive crackers

“pour” into the cake form….

press with fingers.. to make it even all around

off to the challenging part.. since we don’t have the same kind of groceries… The green is sour cream, THE GELÈ is Jello.. the orange in the back is cream.. and then the little one in front is mandarin and pineapple creamy cheese.

I cook the jello first… it says 5 parts of water.. I narrow that down to 2 parts…..

Whip sour cream and cheese and a couple of tablespoons of sugar together… and then cream and a couple of tablespoons of sugar in the other…

pour one over the other and mix gently together…

When the jello has cooled off, mix this into the creamy mix…. mmmmm starting to smell really good!

When all the jello has been mixed into the cream… pour it onto the bottom of the cake….

At this point I am cooking another jello in my pan… it still says 5 parts water into it.. I now use 3!!

And while the jello cool on the counter this time… I put the cake in the refridegerator to get stiff…

When it’s stiff… I take it out.. drew some hearts… (not so smart actually.. as lumps of the cake surfaced the jello)

Then poured over the cold and starting-to-get-stiff-jello… and put it back into the refridgerator!! :-) a few minutes later… MMmmmm dessert!!

Friends?? I made something for you!!

2009-02-22T02:20:00.001+01:00

Are you one of those people that visit me often?? Well.. then I have something for you!

I made this…

It kind of looks like my header.. to have a theme :-)

Please take it home with you

Lots of love,

St.Patricks day give away!!!!

2009-02-21T01:13:00.001+01:00

Elisabeth over at roy's progress! has a GREAT give-away

Take a look at this wonderful St.Patricks day give-away

Oh my.. isn’t she just overly generous?? I can’t believe this wonderful woman…

Here she is.. caring for her husband.. that unfortunately has the cancer diagnosis.. and struggling his lifes toughest battle.. and I imagine she does too, right alongside him… YET she still find it in her heart to create these wonderful give-aways…

So here’s to Elisabeth and Roy

…and friends.. just a tip:

Donate to Relay for Life at www.relayforlife.org/autauga team name Belk.

The world is in my hands… :-)

2009-02-17T00:20:00.001+01:00

He’s got the whole world in his hands…

AND so do I …… and all of you!

With my little computor.. I can travel wherever I want….

I can go to London (England)

and I can see the Grand Canyon

I can visit San Francisco

I can go to Paris

I can see the Great Wall of China

I can “design” my own rings

I can help others

I can visit my friends around the world…. and I can find long lost friends.. and LOTS of new ones :-)

I can share love and friendship… experiences and thoughts… the sky is the limit

I can thank you all for being such great friends!! You have no idea how much I truly appreciate you!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

2009-02-14T02:30:00.001+01:00

Happy Valentines day my friends!

Love, Monica

MY kitchen……..

2009-02-12T00:35:00.001+01:00

I thought I’d let you see part of my kitchen… as you might notice.. I like things a bit oldfashioned….

This is a nice(?) mix of old and new.

And I just love the black iron pieces… (I couldn’t figure out what that is called in english)

In the picture below… I tried to design my own style… I wanted it to look like an oldfashioned fireplace….

We had to hire an old handyman to build this part for us… and I think he did a good job.. at least I got it like I wanted it..

I like my kitchen… and I am very satisfied with this part of it… ONLY wish it was a little bigger.. BUT we have plans… one day we WILL make it bigger…. :-) Really looking forward to that.. in the meantime.. I am happy here…

A new project… too much??

2009-02-09T01:21:00.001+01:00

I have started a project.. to try to keep myself busy with something….. and now my fingers hurt!!!! :-(

I started last night… and this is how far I have come…

trying to make a slumber-blanket for our couch…

I figure I will have to work at this all year to get it big enough to be a blanket.. what do you think??

Anyway.. we’ve had wonderful weather these last few days…

and tonight it started to snow again.. and still is.. but that’s ok.. we haven’t had any snow since the last time I showed you a picture..

And as you can see in the above picture.. NO snow on the beautiful trees this morning..

BY THE WAY

Today was mothers day over here… and I slept in.. got a beautiful plant from my husband… and cute cards from my two wonderful children.. and also gifts that they had bought for me.. with their own money.. how cute is that??

Our seasons :-)

2009-02-06T00:18:00.001+01:00

With a little help from my friend Smiling Sally … I finally will do a post…

I asked her if there was anything she’d like to know about Norway.. and she sent me 5 questions.. I will do ONE in this post.. :-)

1. What are the seasons/temperatures like in Norway?

Well… We have four seasons.. or so they say.. sometimes it feels like only two..

January, Febuary and March are winter-months…IF we’re lucky March can be springlike..

April,May are spring.. OH yes!!!! :-)

(This is what I see when I step outside my door in May)

June,July and August are summer-months

September and October is definatly fall/autumn..

(my daughter made this on the road.. )

November and December.. are winter..

NOT A WHOLE LOT OF SUMMER compared to Winter is it?? and if the summer is bad.. it seems like Winter and spring/fall all year long.. I don’t like that!! So this year I am hoping for a nice and warm spring… followed by a beautiful summer!!

I thought I was real brave taking this photo…

Wish we had temperatures like this.. but we don’t.. unless we get an “indian-summer”..it happens… but not often enough.

Our temperatures vary from –20 (at most) to maybe 30 degrees Celcius (if we’re lucky and still didn’t have that indian summer)

The temperatures also vary within the country..and up north they get REALLY cold winters.. could be as cold as this measurer can measure ;-)

Let’s go under the sea….

2009-02-03T01:00:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone!!!

Let me take you UNDER WATER!!!!!

I will start by telling you that I live in the far west of this country we call HOME :-) There are fjords everywhere.. and if you remember the scenic pictures a couple of posts down… all the “water” your saw was ocean.. saltwater.. (except for the riverpond where my kids love to go swimming during summer)

If you look at this map below… I live where it says Ørsta… and right behind the “Ø” … up in the mountain side.. overlooking the fjord.

The red ring and the really black lines.. is what I am going to tell you about…. It’s a new road..with 3 tunells going in ----) (--- coming out.. see??

Well.. the Looooongest tunell that is crossing the fjord in this map… is actually going under the sea!!

Like this!

And it’s the world deepest undersea tunell at the moment!!! Here compared to the Eiffel tower..

It is really deep.. and I think it is very loooong too! But it takes us where we want to go.. like visit my hometown.. I am from an island even further west! :-)

This is a picture from the day the tunell opened… people was invited inside the tunell.. and at the VERY bottom there were speaches and a consert!

Alot of people gathered as you can see! :-)

I had to show you this picture as well.. I have no idea who that man is.. but he probably helped build the tunell.. what I want you to notice is the blue light-line behind him.. this represents the ocean line- sea-level.. so once you have passed this you are actually under water!! Isn’t that kind of amazing??

Now.. have any of you ever driven through a tunell under water before??

Just spreading some ♥ LOVE ♥

2009-02-02T01:28:00.001+01:00

A while back I picked this cute award up over at Shelia’s~at Note Songs.. who handed it out to us for no specific reason nor for a specific person.. SO I will do the same for those of you that don’t already have it!

I love you all… my new friends!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS one I picked up over at Susan’s at Susan's Colorful Life for commenting on her post…. So I will do the same for you.. so to any of you that doesn’t already have this Mommy-award, leave me a comment and it’s yours!! :-)

You are all wonderful moms!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one I picked up at Smiling Sally’s at Smiling Sally… she thought we all were spreading some love.. and handed this out round handed :-) as we say over here if we give something out to alot of people in good faith and with alot of love and good intentions :-)

So That’s what I will do for you too.. Do you feel you are spreading the LOVE?? Then pick it up!! :-)

AND I – like Sally – think you do..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Sally spread even more love and handed out this one…. for good bloggin’ friends.. So here’s a hug from me to you.. take it along!! :-)

Don’t you just feel LOVED right now??

…..I do….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Place a ribbon on your blog…

2009-01-30T00:42:00.001+01:00

Thanks to our very own Nikkicrumpet at

I happened to discover a beautiful blog that made me very emotional!!

During our busy days we don’t always STOP and think of everyone that WISH they were at work today.. instead of in their bed, or at a hospital or some kind of clinic trying to recover from some kind of illness….

I have made a few stops in my life… I have lost family-members, and I fear loosing friends, it just doesn’t matter IF they are family OR friends OR strangers even… I just wish there was NO such thing as CANCER!! and of course other things that are life threatening…

ANYWAY

I happened to stumble upon

Elisabeth and Roy’s blog over at roy's progress!

Please go there.. Elisabeth must be one of the most generous people I have “met”.. she’s even having a GREAT give-away

Read her posts… it’s SO worth it!

And please take this

Bloggers block??

2009-01-27T16:04:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone!

I think I’ve got Bloggers-block!! :-/

I can’t come up with anything interesting right now… THEN it dawned on me…

Maybe I’ll just show you a few scenic pictures from where I live… come rain or shine.. this is it!

After seeing these I hope you would really like to come to Norway ;-)

They are all from my area… You got to love the nature here…

Dinner’s ready!!

2009-01-24T20:24:00.001+01:00

What am I making???

TACO.. of course.. it’s saturday, and taco is everyones favorite!!

MMmmmm lots of goodies here…..

Table is set.. and all we need now is the fried grounded meat with all the goooood spices in it.. and the taco shells, and of course the burritoes.

DINNER EVERYONE!!!!!!

After this delicious meal, we are going to have a social TV night together… mmm it’ll be nice!

Have a fun saturday-night everybody!!! I know I am going to….. wish you could’ve been here!!

Good mothers……

2009-01-24T01:28:00.001+01:00

Thought I’d just give you something new to look at if you should decide to stop by..

These little cuties were born many years ago… before Lexi came to our house.. we had a cat… and these were her babies.

She was such a good mother

Just look at this

Isn’t that just adorable??

I thought they were so cute!!! :-)

It’s really late… and I will have to go to bed, but I have decided to come up with something for tomorrow….

In the mean time.. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!!!!

Our birthday girl! :-) ♥

2009-01-20T23:56:00.001+01:00

♥ Lexi 6 years old ♥

Snuggling on the old sofa

watching the kids

My people bought a new couch.. and I am not allowed on it no more… but they bought me my own.. I like it! :-)

I am posing, but I don’t like the flash.. so I am pretending to look at someone else….

Allright, outside and with no flash .. it’s ok..

I got a frame from my moms family in the USA, and I love it.. my people even had photos of me taken at the photographer.. they took me along when they had their picture taken last year.

ALlright! I’ll give you one…

I didn’t get any cake today…

But, I am still hoping ;-)

♥ cuddle-with-ME ♥

♥ LEXI ♥

SUSAN, I did it!!!! :-)

2009-01-20T00:22:00.001+01:00

Hi Susan… and everybody else :-)

Susan - over at Susan's Colorful Life - in all her kindness sent me her recipe for chocolate chip cookies :-)

We don’t make those cookies over here… some claim they do, but they just don’t taste the same as the real deal from the USA.

I have tried many different recipes, but never found one that I really like…

TODAY.. YES, on a monday , I made cookies

I had the day off… this was not the plan, but some changes were made due to sick-leave at work… and rearranging of hours :-)

I am a happy camper because of it though… I had today off, and will work thursday instead..

I have been cleaning the house and doing the laundry (again)… made dinner and finally made some cookies

I just threw in some chocolate and nuts.. I think I should have put a little bit more in..

BUT, everybody just LOVED them Susan.. a huge success!!!

THANK YOU!

Something for my friends

2009-01-18T18:37:00.001+01:00

Lovely Laura over at Decor to Adore wanted me to have this

Thank you VERY much Laura

I would like to pass this on to all of you that visit me and leave a comment on THIS post!

It is SWEET.. so come on!!!!

I bought spring!

2009-01-17T01:15:00.001+01:00

During the winter months.. the sun is so low… that it disappears behind the mountains, and we are left in “darkness” for a while….

BUT now it’s back.. and boy did that feel good.. even if it’s just a few glimps of it per day…

Yesterday was sunny and COLD! Today we got warmer weather and wind (this makes the snow go away so quickly it’s amazing!)

BUT we have a storm coming.. and tonight I am sitting her listening to the wind

I have lit beautiful candles…with real fragrances in them.. aren’t they good looking??

AND I BOUGHT SPRING

Arent they lovely!?

If you ever feel down about the weather… light some candles and get the fireplace going… and buy yourself some spring flowers!!

It works….. it brings a little sunshine inside :-)

And as fast as time flies.. summer is upon us before we know it!

Somewhere over the rainbow

2009-01-14T01:17:00.001+01:00

Somewhere over the rainbow

Eva Cassidy is one of my favorites!

Look at these photos of clouds

Look what happens to this if we turn it sideways

HM?

Will you look at this…….

2009-01-12T00:46:00.001+01:00

Today we took all our christmas decorations down…. Except for one thing I noticed a few minutes ago.. but that is gone by morning :-)

NOW.. all my chritsmas decor goes into this little old thing!

It’s not so pretty, BUT IT’S PRETTY VALUABLE to me… it used to belong to my great-great grandfather.

His name was Elias K. Jakobson K. and as you can see by the date of year 1861… this thing is pretty old..

BUT Take a look at this my friends

IT says 1809 right??

This thing is 200 years old!!! :-) wooow!

That means we’re going so far back that me and my husbands families are united.. YES that’s right!

We have discovered that waay back in our families we have the VERY same GREAT-great-Great-gREAT- grandfather haha!!! :-)

And his name was Mads Johannesson …. notice the MJ on the left upper side on that photo?? Yep.. this must’ve been his… BUT there is also an SK on the right side.. I will have to figure out why?? could it be his wife??

Anyway.. I love this old thing… and it’s VERY dear to me :-) And now it holds most of my christmas decor inside of it… so it’s not so very small actually!

Have a great day!!

Pink,pink,piiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!!!

2009-01-10T16:26:00.001+01:00

I am going sweet and PINK today

All over blogland it’s pink saturday…. and I just want to introduce you to a VERY pink lady you might have missed.

This is Sondra Behne’

She’s fairly new in blogland.. and has two lovely pink blogs… you can find both on my side bar….

Her blog is called

The Many Shades of Pink

please go visit!

I am not so pink myself…. I love earthy colors…. fall/autumn.

But I do have one photo I could share with you all on this pink saturday..

my favorite coffe cup

This time filled with lavender tea from Texas.. remember the gifts Buffie sent me??

Anyway… have a lovely pink weekend everyone!!!

Hugs

Vincents starry night…

2009-01-08T18:30:00.001+01:00

This one’s for Shelia

I had posted this on my Norwegian blog at one time last year… and visiting Shelia today made me think of it.. SO SHELIA.. here it is:

Starry, starry night, paint your pallet blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills, sketch the threes and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills in colors on this snowy linen land

Now I understand, what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free, they would not listen,
They did not know how, Perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry, starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze, reflecting Vincent’s eyes of china blue,
Colors changing you, morning fields of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain, are soothed beneath the artists loving hand

Now I understand, what you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free, they would not listen,
They did not know how, Perhaps they’ll listen now

For they could not love you, but still your love was true,
And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do….
But I could have told you Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you!

Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless heads on nameless walls, with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget,
Like the strangers that you’ve met, the ragged men in ragged clothes,
The silver thorn, a bloody rose, lay crushed and broken on the virgin snow…

Now I think I know… what you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for you sanity
And how you tried to set them free, they would not listen,
They’re not listening still… perhaps they never will…

Taking you to Geiranger…

2009-01-07T18:07:00.001+01:00

Hello everybody

Today I want to take you for a drive.. first we drive to the next town …that takes about 15 minutes…. next we have to cross the fjord, by taking this ferry.. we’ll just let those cars get off the ferry first…

Once we have crossed the fjord and drive along the rest of the fjord heading inland…. we will pass this water

and hey!! Whats that??

Oh my it’s a viking ship! But we are driving on……. I will have to tell you about this ship later… we drive over a mountain and back down, over another mountain and back down.. and we come to a place called Stryn… “beautiful Stryn” as they say… This is a haven for skiiers!! But we are just driving straight through town…

OK… looking behind us now, we can no longer see Stryn…. and we are heading up the mountain again!!

It’s beautiful here isn’t it??

Oh.. there’s snow up here.. wait a minute….

I think we’re going to have to have some help.. AH! Thank Goodness they’re already here…

There’s alot of snow here huh??

Wonder how they can find the road??!!

OK.. we are on the top.. now we take left.. and almost make a u-turn… heading back, but on a different road…. and heading back down off of the mountain too…. and NOW I have cheated a little.. it’s summer when we come back down.. naturally that woouldn’t be the case.. but this place has to be shown as a summer place.. we have reached Geiranger!!

This place is mighty popular to take a photo at.. so I thought I’d show you a few :-)

This is a really deep fjord.. and we have cruise ships coming in here during the summer.. and it’s a very popular place to visit.. you would really have to BE there to see how majestic the mountains are!! Just look at that boat.. it looks really small.. but, it’s a cruise ship!

Here we are looking back at the mountains we came down….

This is the church of Geiranger.. it has 8 sides to it.. and was built in the mid – 1800’s..

Geiranger is on UNESCO’s list of world heritage places… and is definately worth seeing. AND if you do.. come by my place too ;-) .. I am just a couple of hours away..

I thought we’d take this ferry back home.. going the sea-way…. It’s VERY expensive, but HEY I want to show you our beautiful nature.. and not going by the same places twice!!

By the way.. those waterfalls you can see.. are called the 7 sisters :-)

The Sami people… a part of Norway.

2009-01-06T13:48:00.001+01:00

This is the Sami flag.

I tell ya’… I had shoes “komager” like these when I was a little girl… and it was the best shoes EVER for a really cold winter day. They really know what they are doing. Most coats and shoes are made by hand from reindeer skin… And it is beautiful if you ask me….

Aren’t they just beautiful??

This is a Sami wedding.. notice all the “sølje” silver she’s wearing…

The Sami people reminds me of the american Indians… and I really think they should be able live their lives as they always have been.. and cherish the old traditions!

Our house….

2009-01-04T16:18:00.001+01:00

Starting off showing you the same tree as last time… this sits in front of our house.. and now it’s more snow here as you can see… BUT in this picture you can also see the fjord behind the tree… and the mountains across from our house..

We spent some time outside one of these days/nights.. had to go outside and showel some snow away from the drive way and off of the cars…

I thought I’d show you our house..

It was snowing alot so you also get to see alot of *****snowflakes *****

We enter the house from the back.. with mountains behind us…

It’s not the biggest house in the world.. as you can see.. hehe

We come driving to our house from this side.. and that is my car sittin’ there…

Now I have walked over to the other side of the house.. and these are my kitchen windows you can see downstairs.. and my husbands car and also my husband there in red…

Made my way down in the garden… on the same side as the kitchen… the whole front of the house downstairs is our livingroom.. and our best view is from that porch/patio where you can see my daughter (?) the branches you can see a little bit of is a wild plum tree and produces tiny yellow plums.. really cute and really sweet.

Hope you enjoyed.. when summer comes I will show you how nice the nature really is around here… :-)

January 1st 2009 :-)

2009-01-01T16:46:00.001+01:00

Christmas is over.. but it was fun while it lasted… it’s such a special time of the year.

We got a visitor one of the days… And we are still not sure who it was ??

but he looked really special

on the 31st of december it started snowing again.. and that was a good thing with all the fireworks this night.

It was NOT easy to get a shot of any firework.. but I did get a few

Happy new year! :-)

And this is what we woke up to this morning of the 1st day of 2009.

it’s still snowing…

Have a great day!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

2008-12-30T12:30:00.001+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

I have taken a few days off from blogging.. and spent some time with my family, playing games and eating all kinds of good food and christmas snacks … hehe.. clothes fit still, so I hope everything will be like normal when 2009 comes! hehe..

I have also been working a little bit, but feel so lucky this year with the days off (so many of them) and that is really nice!! I needed a little break now! :-)

Hope everything is well with all of you , and that 2009 will be a great year for all of us!

New years hug from me to you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS.. (and decorations)

2008-12-24T11:13:00.001+01:00

Kitchen table

Piano with gingerbread house..

and the little snowbaby family

kids made the gingerbread house…

aren’t they cute?

And here’s the REAL family to remember

my livingroom window

Coast santas…

These little ones are made by my kids

under the TV

my son made that boat..

American santa..

Oh Christmas tree..

this year decorated by the kids alone..

My “julehjerter” with candy inside..

on top of our fireplace.. look at the old skiis..

can you see them??

Little tablecloth saying Merry Christmas

My daughter made this angel..

alongside Buffies little gift..

This was some of my christmas decor…

IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!

~~ Greetings from Monica and family ~~

The fourth candle is lit….

2008-12-21T22:07:00.001+01:00

The fourth candle is lit!

the first for joy

the second for hope

the third for longing

and the fourth for peace on earth

I have to once again thank all of you lovely ladies for all the nice comments! I am so blessed to have found you all, and those of you that have found me.. I’d like to send a thanks to.. I am so happy to know you all!! Well.. I don’t REALLY know you, but I am sure if we ever got to meet, we’d have a wonderful time. I SO enjoy each and every one of you! Thank you for being my friend!

I have decided to put all sad things behind me, and focus on today, and the people I LOVE!

Today is a special day.. me and my husband got engaged on this day 14 years ago!!

Last year my niese had her first baby on this day as well….

Isn’t she just beautiful??

Look at that little hand!

AND TODAY SHE IS 1 YEAR OLD!!!

Time goes by so quickly!

Look at this princess!

Isn’t she just adorable??

I will be back before christmas for sure…

I have to wish you all a merry christmas!! SO be sure to come back!!

Hugs and kisses;

You raise me up.....

2008-12-16T00:20:00.007+01:00

Thank you all for kind words...

•✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿

One of the young men that died in that fire was my sisters nephew, and he is the second one lost within one and a half year.... and before that they lost a niese too.. so this was a tough,tough day for them. And having had these fine young adults in my life too, I miss them all dearly. It's hard to understand how ONE family can be hit SO hard time and time again.

•✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿

Don't feel sorry for me... I am just sad for them!

•✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿

MY nephew and nieses having to deal with the loss of their third cousin.. is about more than I can bare, but there's only so much you can do.... I just feel SO sorry for them!

•✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿

Leaving you today with this beautiful song and lyrics.

Take good care of your love ones.. and remember to tell them:

~~I LOVE YOU!~~

•✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿••✿♫*♥*♫✿

The third candle is lit - for longing…

2008-12-15T00:59:00.002+01:00

It is the third sunday of advent…

The first candle stands for joy

the second candle for hope

the third for longing….

And a day for longing it turned out to be for four families today.

A house burnt “to the ground” in the small town I grew up in. Killing four young adults!

I know the people that lived in the house, and it has been such a sad day. I don’t want to go into details on the blog about this…

I had so many plans for today.. BUT I lost every will to do anything with these sad news.

Will be back with something happier tomorrow!

just an update… and a recipe

2008-12-12T00:52:00.001+01:00

Hello again

I have been crocheting…. this was so much fun.. and very easy and quickly made. I have made one each night…they are shawls... Not the brightest of colors.. but I am sure it looks good for those they are made for…

I have been so fascinated by the sky lately… take a look.. I caught the moon too…

And the morning sun this morning made the mountain look like gold!

And Buffie… here’s that recipe…

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1,76 ounces potato flour

6,4 ounces of coconut (the white fluffy part only)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder/soda

split the eggs…

whisk egg whites and sugar until stiff (sort of)

mix in the yolks

add everything else and hand mix this with a “whatchamightcallit” .. those with soft end.. that makes it easy to take batter out of pots..

Put on baking pan, like you would chocolate chip cookies.. and bake in the oven like those too..

(this is so different from our ovens.. so do what you usually do with small cookies) They are supposed to look somewhat like these.

HAVE FUN!!!!

Butterfly award from Buffie…

2008-12-11T09:15:00.004+01:00

A while back I got yet another award from Buffie's World…. THANK you soooo much Buffie!!!

I am supposed to give it to TEN bloggers… Hmmm let’s see…. I choose:

Tootsie at TOOTSIE TIME

Ma’dame French at British Colonial Love Affair

Suzanne at Coloradolady

Rue at Rue's peanut butter and jelly life

Justine at Tiney's Froggy Bloggy

Rachael at Boys Will B Boys

Jessica at THE COZY KETTLE

Terrie at Terrie's Lil' Piece of Serenity

Shelia at Note Songs

Laura at Decor to Adore

Sondra Behne at The Many Shades of Pink

Hope you enjoy!!

I am having the day off today, and I am planning to try to get some christmas shopping done… I am actually hoping to get done today !!?? (I won’t )

THANKS AGAIN Buffie!!! And I will see what I can do about that recipe… I will have to translate it and change the deciliter measures into cups for you! :-) But that shouldn’t be too difficult!

I believe in Santa Claus….

2008-12-10T00:37:00.001+01:00

I just want to give tribute to Santa……. with this little poem/story that I have been keeping close to my heart ever since I layed my eyes on it…. This tells me that Santa lives in us all…

Santa's Secret Wish

On Christmas Eve, a young boy with light in his eyes
Looked deep into Santa's, to Santa's surprise
And said as he sat on Santa's broad knee,
"I want your secret. Tell it to me."
He leaned up and whispered in Santa's good ear
"How do you do it, year after year?"

"I want to know how, as you travel about,
Giving gifts here and there, you never run out.
How is it, Dear Santa, that in your pack of toys
You have plenty for all of the world's girls and boys?
Stays so full, never empties, as you make your way
From rooftop to rooftop, to homes large and small,
From nation to nation, reaching them all?"

And Santa smiled kindly and said to the boy,
"Don't ask me hard questions. Don't you want a toy?"
But the child shook his head, and Santa could see
That he needed the answer. "Now listen to me,"
He told that small boy with the light in his eyes,
"My secret will make you sadder and wise.

"The truth is that my sack is magic. Inside
It holds millions of toys for my Christmas Eve ride.
But although I do visit each girl and each boy
I don't always leave them a gaily wrapped toy.
Some homes are hungry, some homes are sad,
Some homes are desperate, some homes are bad.
Some homes are broken, and the children there grieve.
Those homes I visit, but what should I leave?

"My sleigh is filled with the happiest stuff,
But for homes where despair lives toys aren't enough.
So I tiptoe in, kiss each girl and boy,
And I pray with them that they'll be given the joy
Of the spirit of Christmas, the spirit that lives
In the heart of the dear child who gets not, but gives.

"If only God hears me and answers my prayer,
When I visit next year, what I will find there
Are homes filled with peace, and with giving, and love
And boys and girls gifted with light from above.
It's a very hard task, my smart little brother,
To give toys to some, and to give prayers to others.
But the prayers are the best gifts, the best gifts indeed,
For God has a way of meeting each need.

"That's part of the answer. The rest, my dear youth,
Is that my sack is magic. And that is the truth.
In my sack I carry on Christmas Eve day
More love than a Santa could e`er give away.
The sack never empties of love, or of joys
`Cause inside it are prayers, and hope. Not just toys.
The more that I give, the fuller it seems,
Because giving is my way of fulfilling dreams.

"And do you know something? You've got a sack, too.
It's as magic as mine, and it's inside of you.
It never gets empty, it's full from the start.
It's the center of lights, and love. It's your heart.
And if on this Christmas you want to help me,
Don't be so concerned with the gifts `neath your tree.
Open that sack called your heart, and share
Your joy, your friendship, your wealth, your care."

The light in the small boy's eyes was glowing.
"Thanks for your secret. I've got to be going."
"Wait, little boy," Said Santa, "don't go.
Will you share? Will you help? Will you use what you know?"
And just for a moment the small boy stood still,
Touched his heart with his small hand and whispered, "I will."

The second candle is lit….

2008-12-08T01:03:00.001+01:00

Hi every body!!

Today I want to show you that I HAVE done some christmas decorating too… but just a little bit.. for advent.

Today we lit the second candle…

Even though last weekend was busy, I still got out my advent stars…. and the christmas curtains for my kitchen .. this is what it looked like before. (even before I got my windows cleaned… oops)

And this is what it looked like after I had washed and hung the curtains , the star and the tree.

You like??

Look at the star and the tree in the window up close…

and this is the one I made ( that I have shown you before) but now in a better photo…

And today me and my kids finally did get around to do some baking..

this is the before picture of the gingerbread cookies… and take a look at these after the kids had decorated them… aren’t they christmasy??

Yum!!!

here are some close ups too…

wouldn’t you just love to take a bite?? Did you notice that some of them were a little bigger?? and with their names on them?? I usually hang these in the window during christmas.. for decor… and Lexi is this little girl

She was trying to hide, so that I wouldn’t send her away from the kitchen ;-) haha.

And last but not least I made some other cookies too… from coconut (?)

They are yummy!!

Well.. that’s it for now!! Wish I could’ve invited you all over for a taste and a coffee!! :-)

Have a great day everyone!!

A piece of Norway...

2008-12-05T22:03:00.003+01:00

A norwegian christmas song....

and some of Norways OLDest churches!!

An award…. or two….

2008-12-04T00:38:00.001+01:00

I have taken my sweet time.. but now I have to tell you that I have been given awards again :-) YEAH!!

The first award came from Bridget at My Silly Blog and the second came from Terrie at Terrie's Lil' Piece of Serenity THANK YOU VERY MUCH Bridget and Terrie!!

Copy and paste the rules and instructions in your post.
When posting on receiving the award,
make sure you include who gave you the award
and link it back to them.
Post five winners and link it back to them as well.
Post five of your addictions.

Oooo… here we go…..

#1 I have to have my coffe in the morning.. and after that during most of the day too!!

#2 I HAVE to check in on my two blogs and my facbook account every day!!!

#3 I absolutely have to check in on every new post that I see….. I am hopeless that way.

#4 I have to have my mobile phone with me at any given time…. I use it as an alarm clock, a reminder and to stay in touch with the kids while I am at work…and sometimes even as a camera.

#5 MY photos… I have soo many albums, and I LOVE albums ( I will do a Shelia here.. hehe) Can you love albums?? YES you can!! ;-) ( Oh Shelia.. I am so fascinated by that comment of yours!! makes me smile every time) AND my photos, and paintings etc. I NEED photos in my life!!!

Next I have to pass this on to 5 fabulous friends..

SInce I have seen this alot lately …….. I choose the first five that comments this post!! GO FOR IT!!!!

THANKS AGAIN!!!! I think you are all fabulous!!

I did pick up this at Shelias…. Thank you!!

And this one over at Tootsies…. Thank you!!

A rose in the snow….

2008-12-03T20:42:00.001+01:00

Isn’t that quite a poetic picture?

We got alot of snow a week ago… but the rain came and washed away most of it…. now we’ve got –5 degrees celcius.. brrr cold!

We do have a little snow.. just enough for the kids to have some fun in the snow.. like skiing and sliding!!!

When we do get more snow I will take more photos!

In other news today….

2008-12-03T00:37:00.001+01:00

Sorry that I have been so quiet…

I have a couple of post on hold at the minute… my days don’t have enough hours. But will get back to them as soon as possible!! :-)

Today I baby-sat a little boy, who’s parents are both deaf… his parents were attending the little boys great-grandfathers funeral… AND since the little boys mom and I go waay back (I used to be her nanny) she called me and asked if I could look after him for a few hours!!! (he by the way can hear, but uses signs as well – 1 year old)

That poor little fellow had never seen me before, since they live in Bergen (6 hour drive from here) we met, and spent 10 minutes together before his parents took off….

He cried for about half a minute… then decided we could be friends :-) HE WAS SO CUTE!! We spent a few hours together and I had so much fun.. he was such an angel!!

~~~ IN OTHER NEWS ~~~

Monday morning, I got an sms from my next door neighbour ( I was still in bed, and quite tired) … the house next to her was in flames!!

I couldn’t believe it!!! I had slept through the sirens and all the commotion!!!

The old lady in the house made it out of the house, but unfortunately her husband died…

The house didn’t burn to the ground, but it looks so sad sittin’ there with black windows now…

Ironicly december 1st, is the day to check and change the firealarm batteries over here…

SO MY FRIENDS

CHECK YOUR FIREALARMS!!!

AS THIS IS THE SEASON FOR FIRES!!!

PLEASE!!!!

I won, I won, I won, I won!!!!!

2008-12-02T01:11:00.001+01:00

….I got a brown box in the mail today.. could it be???…. yes!!! It’s the package from Buffie…

All other plans were put aside.. I had to open this box and see the 118 things she had come up with!!!! ;-)

You see.. she missed her 100th post, and noticed it on her 118th post.. so she promised the 18th commenter 118 things!!! and I won…. I had the advantage of being off from work that day… and could check in more frequently than most of the other sweet ladies!

Ladies… are you anxiously waiting for me to open this box?? Oh.. ok…. First thing I noticed when I opened the box was this wonderful scent! Mmmm… something in there smells really good!! Then I saw this:

Oh… sweet Buffie had sent me a postcard with the Texan armadillo!!!!! (belive it or not, but I have petted one) the card is prettier and more vibrant in its color in real life.. I had to turn off the flash for these pictures.

Anyway… I know, I know.. off to what she had sent me….

did she expect me to count all these stars and hearts??? Are there 118??

There were alot more I did count!! ;-) hehe….. no… I am just kidding!! But I did figure out that there had to be over 400!!!!! Way more than she had promised!!! hahaha!!! NO.. all jokes aside…….take a look at this :

There was a theme in the box.. suddenly it all turned into lavender… every little thing was wrapped in lavender colored silk paper…

Take a look at what she sent me:

Isn’t it just wonderful.. I wish you all could smell the lovely scents these presents send out….. but it didn’t stop there… look at this lovely lavender jewelry box she sent me….

It had something inside… also notice the beautiful rim around the edge.

Awww a little lavender bloom

Aaaand to top it all off she sent me a beautiful book about Texas.

I sat down to read… and it turned out it was full of the most gorgious pictures from the state of Texas… and do you know what?? It really worked on me…. I WANT TO GO THERE!!!!

Breathtaking !!!!

And here’s everything

Thank you so very much Buffie!!! A simple thank just doesn’t do these wonderful things justice!!! I so wish I could have given you a great big hug!!!

I am so looking forward to my next bath! ;-) with my new lavender soap!!

I already had a cup of lavender & hibiscus tea… mmmm lovely!

This will probably do wonders for my sore muscles too Buffie!!

You are the sweetest ever!! Thanks alot!!

food for thought....

2008-12-01T01:00:00.003+01:00

I found this on a friends blog... turn off my music on the side bar.. and watch and listen...

This is the complete oposite of my previous post (about my x-mas party) ... do I feel guilty?? YES, when I see pictures like this I do... but.. then again.. there is only so much we CAN do... so please.. enjoy christmas!!!

The PARTY was Great!! :-)

2008-11-30T23:47:00.001+01:00

…. in fact is was so much fun, that I forgot to take pictures of the food!

but I got a couple of the dessert/cakes

notice this little fellow, a mini santa sittin’ on the cake… he was so cute……

and my friend got him on her piece.. but she never had the heart to EAT him, so I placed him on the candle stick holder… and took a picture.. that I think came out really great!!

Most of these people that I partied with, don’t much care for getting their picture on the web… so I have edited them out of the picture.. so you get only ME! hehe..

But this one is fine.. they were playing the chair game… ex.8 chairs, 9 people, play music and when music stops sit down… ooops there’s not enough chairs.. one person is out, and one chair removed,etc.etc. until there is a winner!

It was a wonderful night, young and old together…with lots of good food, and drinks, beer, cider,red and white wine, and some sodas, coffe and baileys (yum). We danced and had alot of fun!!!! And some of us tried to outsing the stereo with our christmas carols, hahaha!!!

X-mas party tonight!! :-)

2008-11-29T16:28:00.001+01:00

I am just about to get ready for the annual x-mas party at my job…. really looking forward to that tonight :-)

We usually eat traditional christmas dinner like this :

But this year we are doing it a little easier and are making our own food.. from the kitchen I work in.. and will make food like this..

called “spekemat” it is pork og lamb legs that has been put inside salt and water for a few days, then rinsed and hung to dry…. and it tastes really yummy and salty… it’s so great, and goes very well with a delicious potatoe salad and or Waldorf salad..

And of course the smoked salmon, shrimps etc… OH, I am going to be so full at the end of tonight!!

And there’ll be lots to drink of course!!! :-)

Don’t you wish you were here???

Have a great day everyone!!!

Gone bowling…..

2008-11-28T18:06:00.001+01:00

My son celebrates his birthday today…

So we are bowling!!! :-)

His birthday is in a couple of days, but we are celebrating today.

Will be back later ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!! :-)

2008-11-27T15:33:00.001+01:00

Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone!!!

Monica

TAG.. you’re it!!

2008-11-26T14:22:00.002+01:00

I have been tagged!!!! :-o

By Debi over at Whats Cook'n In Junk

Thanks Debi this might be fun.. (if I can come up with somthing interesting about myself ;-))

Now, for the rules... as follows...

Rule #1 ~ Link to the person that tagged you.
Rule #2 ~ Post the rules on your Blog.
Rule #3 ~ Write 6 random things about yourself.
Rule #4 ~ Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
Rule #5 ~ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog. Rule #6 ~ Let the tagger know your entry is up.

#1. I am the youngest of 3 children, I have one brother (6years older than me) and a sister (she’s 8 years older than me). I was a “daddy’s-girl”. I am the little girl in the photo.

#2. When I was 12 my sister got her first baby, a girl, and it turned out she was deaf, so I had to learn sign-language… I became like a second mom to this little adorable niese.. we did alot together.

#3. When I was 17 I went to Minnesota as an exchange student… I turned 18 that summer, and my father died only 2 months after I got there, so I had to go home for a while, before I went back to Cannon Falls in MN. I have such fond memories from my year over there.. the family I lived with are as close to me as real family, and I miss them every day.

#4. Two years later.. at age 20 I went back to the US. I stayed one year in Los Gatos California.. as an au-pair. I looked after 3 adorable little kids. I loved them to bits. That year was when the huge earthquake in San Francisco took place… I SURVIVED THE 7,1 EARTHQUAKE OF SAN FRAN.

#5. I met my husband during x-mas… I lived in Bergen at the time, and he in his hometown Ørsta (Oersta) I moved in with him after having known him for a month. :-) two years later we got engaged and had our first baby!

#6. Now we live in my husbands grandmothers house, which we have been “renovating” new windows, new roof, new walls inside and out, new floors inside, and everything is different. We have made it our own!! We have been happily married for 11 years now.. almost 12. :-)

..and now for passing it on… I TAG:

#1 Jessica at THE COZY KETTLE

#2 Briget at My Silly Blog

#3 Buffie at <u>Buffie's World</u>

#4 Terrie at Terrie's Lil" Piece of Serenity

#5 Shelia at Note Songs

#6 Rachael at Boys Will B Boys

Good luck to you all, I am so looking forward to hearing a little more about you!! :-)

Have a wonderful thanksgiving all of you!!!

Julekurv / christmas basket……

2008-11-25T11:31:00.002+01:00

In Norway we sometimes make our own christmas decor.. like the “julekurv” or “christmas basket” if you will… They look very cute on the tree.. and I (I tell the kids santa does this.. so Sshhh!! ) usually put some of that chocolate Buffie got - the twist – inside them… other candy is good too :-)

Here’s how to make this one below:

Materials.

· 2 rectangular strips of different colored construction paper, 2 inches by 6 inches (we used red and blue). By trial and error we learned that origami paper, which is smooth and glossy, is easier to work with than typing paper.

· ruler

· scissors

· compass

· patience!

Make this pattern on each rectangle: two half-circles (radius one inch) and two squares (with side lengths of two inches). Use a compass to draw the half circles. On each square, draw three horizontal segments, one-half inch apart, and each four inches long, and cut along the three segments. (You can do this to both rectangles at the same time.)

Orient the two folded pieces as shown. We label them X and Y.

To weave the two pieces together:

1. Place A inside 1, 2 inside A, A inside 3, and 4 inside A. One row is woven.

Slide this row up - to make room for the second row (B) - on the three line segment cuts in piece X.

2. Place 1 inside B, B inside 2, 3 inside B, and B inside 4.

3. Place C inside 1, 2 inside C, C inside 3, and 4 inside C.

4. Place 1 inside D, D inside 2, 3 inside D, and D inside 4.

5. Attach a handle.

Of course you can design baskets with different dimensions (e.g., 4 inches by 12 inches), and with different numbers of weaving strips! You can also try other kinds of paper.

When you get this one right.. you can advance to other designs..

Or just simply use other kinds of paper

Want to try it???

Go for it!! It’s fun!!!

Oh my Goodness!!!! :-)

2008-11-24T23:57:00.001+01:00

A little while back I got the cutest award from Jessica… Thank you so much Jessica, I am so lucky to have found you “out there!” :-)

I am supposed to give this to 6 bloggers who I think is full of goodness!!

This is not an easy task… there are just so many GOOD ladies out there

The first lady must be Bridget… I havent posted a post yet that she has not been visiting and left a cute comment on. Thanks Bridget! You are truly a great friend!!http://bigeeesblog.blogspot.com/

The next lady must be Jill… she’s such a sweetheart, and has been by alot! Thanks alot Jill! http://jillsbelieveitornot.blogspot.com/

The third lady must be Nancy.. she always leaves nice comments, and it’s just a treat to visit her blog!! Thanks alot Nancy!http://southernlady-nancy.blogspot.com/

The fourth good lady is Rachael… she has not left my side since I found her, and she’s such a great friend to have. Thanks for stopping by Rachael! http://willboyswillbboys.blogspot.com/

And the fifth lady is Terrie! I just love it when she stops by. She always has something good to say.. Thanks alot Terrie!!!http://terriedj.blogspot.com/

The last one I really want to give to a very sweet Norwegian friend of mine… Her name is Astrid and she always stops by and leaves me heartfelt comments! So I will take the last one and blog about that one on my Norwegian blog.

Thanks to ALL of you for being my friend!!!

AND since it’s thanksgiving.. I’d like to give thanks for all my new friends here in Blogland! Thank you for being my friend!!!

Did you think I was DONE???

I’m NOT!!

I have another award to give and it’s going to my dear friend Buffie!!

You make me smile!

Thank you for being my friend!!!

( we norwegians give our awards to 4 friends.. I have given this twice now.. so there’s more to come!! )

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!