TAG.. you’re it!!

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……

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!!!! :-)

 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!!!

About santas and “graut”…..

The little santa called “nisse” in norwegian.. and their story.

Farmers believe that in their barns, there is a small kind santa that takes care of their animals throughout the year.

Sometimes they do little pranks around the farm, like move things about etc., but mostly they are good, and come christmas the farm owners give them “graut” to keep them happy.

And the “graut” disappears, so surely the little santas have had a feast.

These little santas are tiny, and can easily hide in the barn….. they are not the ordinary kinds of santas..

We have that kind too….the ordinary ones…. you know the northpole santa, big fellow with the red suit and black boots etc.

And we have the blue santas that lives up in the mountains.. inside the mountains to be excact…

and they come out of their hiding only during winter/christmas, AND only during the “blue hour” ….

because they can’t be spotted that easily when everything turns blue.

Back to the little barn-santas.. and their “graut”.

I would like to give you the recipe, so that you can try it some day…

Ingredients
1and 2/3 cups water
3/4 cup long grain rice (or the small round one)

1 quart milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Directions

1 Boil water and add rice, cover and lower heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

2 Add milk, sugar and vanilla and bring back to a boil. remember to stir ofter… as the milk may burn in the bottom of your pan.

3 Cover, lower heat and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20-30 minutes. (stir.. a little)

4 Season with salt. ( might be too much with a teaspoon.. so taste)

5 Serve with butter, sugar and cinnamon and a glass of milk

6 you can also put some raisins on the top.

( oh.. and if there are any left-overs.. cool it down, whip some cream and mix the cream and “graut” together carefully.. put on some sweet red sauce.. like cherry or rasberry sauce… .. hmmm a delicious dessert.)

Good luck!

About christmas decor.. or not…

Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming") is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.

The progression of Advent may be marked with an Advent calendar reckoning Advent to start on 1 December, a practice introduced by German Lutherans.

This (above) was borrowed from Wikepedia

To us, advent is the time to put out the four candles… we’d light one candle each sunday before christmas… and this is a purple time for us… the four candles are usually purple (this have changed lately.. where people find their own colors that fit with their domestic decor)

I still use purple candles, and I love it that way. I really like purple too, so it’s not a problem for me :-) hehe..

first sunday

second sunday

third sunday

fourth sunday

and this means – christmas is here! At last!

Our kids usually have their advent calendar, and these come in every shape and form… but it is a countdown for x-mas( with numbers from 1 – 24) … and the kids get one small thing each day before x-mas.

We also put up an advent star.. with light in it.. in our window during advent, and this is the one I really like.. it makes it so cozy!! I have several that I have bought, and one special one that I made with my own two hands :-) (picture below)

Other than this.. there’s not a whole lot of christmas decor in our homes before december 23rd…. this is the night we call “little christmas-eve”. This night we put out all the red, white and green stuff :-) ,santas and candles.. christmas tree and all that comes with it.. and before night fall (after the kids have gone to sleep) “santa” puts all the presents under the tree, so that come christmas morning (ours is celebrated on december 24th) the kids will come into the livingroom.. to a tree decorated and filled with presents underneath it!!!

I also do the christmas stocking for my kids, although this is an american thing.. it has arrived here as well! :-)

Oh.. we do have one tradition though.. the kids usually make a gingerbread house, decorated with lots of candy :-) very sweet(!) hehe

You can actually see my candles in the background here… if you look really close! hehe… this is an old photo.. next weekend we will start the advent decoration. on december 1st.

Have a wonderful advent!!!!

Another award!! :-)

Wouldn’t you know…

I got an award back from Buffie :-)

Thank you so much!!!

Pass this on to 5 blogging friends.
Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.
Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that...

A little challenge in itself for me… because if you are going to understand it, I would have to translate.. but here it goes:

The closest book is called Jensine

(a girls name)

It’s written by my absolute favorite norwegian author, her name is

Frid Ingulstad.

- why, aren’t you a fast walker all of a sudden, I can hardly keep up with you. The aunt smiled. – are you that eager to see the castle?

Jensine nodded without looking at her. They had reached the pavilion now.

- Can we stay here and listen to them for a while? Jensine looked at her aunt with a puppies eyes.

-I thought you were eager to see the Kings castle?

- Yes, but can we please listen to that lovely music first??

******

NOW, I have to pass this on

to 5 friends :-)

Robin at ~The Robin's Nest~

Karen at ~ HeartFelt Living

Jessica ~ THE COZY KETTLE

Nikkicrumpet at ~ Blah, Blah, Blah, blog

Laura at ~ Decor to Adore

:-)

All done.. I will let you know I did want to give one to Bridget too, but she just got one (or several) …hehe..

SO Bridget…

you get this one

and it’s so true…

…you do!

(hehe, I’m a poet.. and I know it)

hahaha!!

Have fun everybody!

Buffie! :-)

~*~DEAREST BUFFIE!~*~

I have been given awards on my Norwegian blog site.... and I just had to save ONE for this , my english version... because there is a lady here.. YES, it's Buffie.... that I have grown quite fond of, and appreciate very much!! She took me on with no fear, she even "let me" win! a prize on one of her posts (her 118th one) even though I am from a far away country!!!

(what she sends will be posted later) :-)

I would like you to have this dalmatian award Buffie, because you make me laugh, you made me feel welcome, and never once questioned the fact that I am from a different country!!

There are more of you out there... I know, and I would like to send all of you a little "thank you!" from the bottom of my heart! I am so happy to have met you all, and thanks for visiting! Keep coming back, and I am sure there'll be more awards to come! ;-)

(I know there is!!)
Have a wonderful day!!!!