Monday, May 20, 2013

American Dreaming

Yesterday was warm…about 28C, which for Norway is a very very nice summer day. The sun was shining and I could smell BBQ, country tunes played out of the back of a big ol´American van and the beautiful American flag waved gently in the soft breeze…..for a moment I thought I was in Texas on a lovely spring day….then I turned just slightly and gazed out upon the lovely Mjøsa, Norway´s largest lake, and I realized that I wasn´t in Texas but in Hamar in Norway at the Amcar get together that the local Amcar club held. 
I have thought a lot about home (America) the last weeks with everything happening in my life. Thinking about how I gave it all up to follow love and we all know how that turned out….and now I am here and my first instinct when everything blew up was to grab a ticket and go back….go back to my beloved home country….go back to Texas….but life doesn´t always let you do what you want. My kids are establishing themselves here with boyfriends, school, friends, work….here….Norway…..and it is here in Norway I will remain because of them. 

However, I will always be proud of being American and I happily call myself a Texan even though I was born in Pennsylvania. (shhhh…..don´t say that loudly) My Texan accent has been buried under years of speaking British English to my new countrymen and women but every now and then I can still pull out a yáll or dawg when I speak….hahahahaha…..but I admit that I have become pretty Norwegian as well over the years, which isn´t a bad thing but it is kinda interesting how easy it is to lose sight of your roots when you are far away from them. Then I go to an event like yesterday´s Amcar get together and I´m ready to put my hand over my heart and sing God Bless America to the gorgeous red, white, and blue I saw waving gently in the sky….
I have absolutely NO knowledge about a car´s motor or specs….but what I do know is beauty when I see it….I know the feeling these gorgeous classic cars give me without even knowing what is under the hood….there are a lot of gorgeous cars made these days also but there is something about the timeless beauty of these old Americans…..the rumble of their motors (which I know nothing about) that makes me want to dance the twist in a poodle skirt with a chocolate milkshake in my hand outside the local 50´s diner…..or partake in a street race with a tough ass muscle car……or jump into an old pickup and bounce down a hot and dusty road in Texas with country tunes jamming out of my radio…….and I feel a bond to these Norwegian who love these old classics, even though I am too shy to talk to anyone when I am at these get togethers…I still feel a bond….an appreciation we share for these wonderful machines and the feelings they give us. Enjoy the photos below and I hope you feel what I feel when I look at these gorgeous pieces of history….








Do you feel it???











I think even you lovely ladies who read my blog, who are into interior, food, and crafts must appreciate these lovelies….you must feel how they move you? How can you not?












Someday I will have one of these beauties….whether it will be a muscle car for the bad ass in me, or a pickup for the Texan in me, or a 50´s car for the nostalgic in me, I do not know…but someday….I will roll into one of these get togethers with my own classic beauty and that thought is so exciting! Which one of these lovely classics would you choose if you could? Need more selection? Check these out….










A special thanks to the wonderful Norwegians who share their lovely machines with we who can only dream of them for the moment and for giving this American a moment of "home" as I wandered around photographing all these fantastic cars. 

Until next time my friends….

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Sailing Forward Alone

Silence…..sometimes it can be a good thing and sometimes it can be a bad thing. Some of you recall I posted about true love….but then I removed it. My daughter was upset that I was "hanging" out her father and our issues in such a public forum. So I removed it out of respect for her and have just not felt like writing since.

However, I´m back- finally! Lots has happened but the most important thing to get is that the Captain and I have split ways. Our journey together is finished and I am sailing forward alone now. It would be a much sadder situation if I didn´t have all the details that I have about what has actually been happening in my marriage. While I have been living in a "perfect" marriage, things have, in reality, not been perfect at all. This tells you all how incredibly positive I am….I can be living in such a negative existence as possible and I had myself completely convinced everything was wonderful. My cup was half full- ALWAYS. This is a good thing too- but one should never deny reality. Problem was that the Captain was a master at hiding reality from me, so even if I wanted to see reality, I couldn´t.

Water under the bridge now…..life goes on and I still have the most important thing in the world still….my children.

I have never been through a divorce before, never really known anyone close to me who has been through a divorce either…so I guess in my little head, I thought a divorce with someone I thought was a good friend would be kinda like in the movies, where the ex´s part as friends and everything is smooth going and friendly and life just moves on. I have heard of the ugly divorces but that was for people who hated each other and the Captain and I have never hated each other that I was aware of….heck in 20 years of marriage I don´t think we have ever really fought….I can´t remember any times we fought…..so I thought if we ever went our own way it would be tough but at the same time harmonious…we would do the right thing for the kids and make it through with a friendship at least after all of these years.

My children are incredibly smart, grown up, thoughtful people….they do not instantly take sides and even with cold hard facts on the table they play the neutral card as much as possible, to their mother´s great dismay. (I was hoping for some support in my corner, despite knowing you should not pit child against parent in this situation…) However, so many things have been dealt with in a wrong way throughout this whole situation and they have made their own opinions about the situations and unfortunately the decisions they have had to come too have not been good ones….their relationship with their Dad is strained and for the moment not in a good place and for the moment they do not wish to pursue anything further with their Dad. While this thought should make me happy it doesn´t. It isn´t how it should be. Kids need both their parents. However, I strongly feel that someone can be a father or a mother and not necessarily a parent…there is a difference..A mother or father gives you the stuff you need to make the kid…a parent is there for their kids through everything, good and bad. They guide, they advise, they help, they love, they support, they are there always and put their kids first- ALWAYS.
This divorce wound is still fresh….and I am hoping in time it will heal for all of us. That the kids and the Captain can find a common ground again….a peaceful place together.  A new time has begun for me and I am both excited and nervous and a little afraid of how things will be. I have discovered throughout this ordeal though just how many wonderful caring friends and family I have. I have always known they were there…but it is when you hit rock bottom and they are still there, offering you a hand to get up….yeah….you see them in a totally different light. They mean more then I could ever formulate in words.

The kids and I will be staying here in the woods in our Eventyrhus and we are so grateful for this. Some of the dogs have had to leave us or are going to leave us as I can not afford 7 dogs. Nanna has found a fabulous new home in Fagernes Norway with a loving family and a handsome 7 year old Golden Retriever named Odin. Birdy will be moving to the states probably by the end of summer. She will go to Seattle to live with her son, Bamse and his family. They are going to be holding a fundraiser to raise money to bring her over. Ridiculously enough a dog´s ticket costs more then a human´s ticket- go figure! When I get information for the fund raiser I will let you all know and if you would like to donate a little something to help get Birdy to the states I would forever be grateful for that act of kindness. I know she will have a great life there and they already love her so much!

The rest of the gang I think I will try and keep. My fear is the small dogs…they really shouldn´t be with people who work full time as I will be doing from this fall but I am going to see how it goes. If they seem stressed or not happy I will have to re-evaluate what I will do with them then but I am going to try and make it work. That is all one can do, try and see….

My plans for the future are to try and go to school. I think this is my best option for the future, however, I have a little entrepreneur in me who is screaming to get out also….so who knows, maybe I will be one of those people with a bunch of different jobs, working herself into the ground…..no sugar daddy needed here to make life great…she makes it great herself! Yeah….I like the sound of that ;-)

Until next time my friends…...

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Where Do I Begin

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….

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