Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone! I’ve been here in Norway a little over 14 years and in that time Halloween has grown in popularity. I remember looking for Halloween decorations those first years and the selection was limited and expensive. I remember seeing a pumpkin and it cost 600kroner!!! I remember driving my kids around to different homes and having them go up to the front door and say “Knask eller Knep” the Norwegian version of Trick or Treat. I truly think people must have thought we couldn’t afford food or something in the beginning, they didn’t understand the concept of kids coming to the door asking for candy and were never prepared for us. So my kids ended up getting fruit, half opened bags of cookies or candy bags that the family had obviously gotten for themselves. They even got a deck of cards one year!

Things have changed drastically over the years, Halloween items are abundant and cheaper then ever and some families are prepared when kids come knocking on the door, however this year when Thomas went out he came back with similar items to the first years he was out trick or treating and he told me how one woman didn’t have anything so she gave each of the boys 5kroner…hahahaha! As for us, we had one group of kids come and trick or treat here. The same group that came last year. A couple boys who use to go to the daycare where I work and their sister and a friend. Their mother said my house is a must on Halloween for her kids…which is sweet. Last year I was careful giving out the candy because I thought perhaps someone else would venture into the dark woods here and ask for candy but no one came..I felt bad sitting here with a pumpkin full of candy and having only given the kids a piece or two…so this year I told them to grab a handful- which they eagerly did and when they started going for a second handful I told them we needed to save a little JUST in case…well, no one else came!!! So I think maybe next year I’ll just bag up a few candy bags for this group of kids and skip buying more candy then neccessary!

I’ve been a busy beaver today, I took these two guys…

and turned them into this…

with which I then used some of this fresh pumpkin mash to turn into the following…

Pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting!! The recipe you can pick up at Big Black Dog just scroll down on her page and you should see it toward the bottom. While you’re at her page check out all the other yummy things she makes, I’m constantly in there for inspiration and the doggies are adorable!

Speaking of doggies…my baby dog has made a new friend..

Stuart Little (the cat) is the most patient cat ever…I think he thinks he is a dog since he was raised by our labrador Heidi (She nursed him when he first came to us and even produced milk- so she is his mamma). Stuart knows if you stay quiet and don’t run the dogs are pretty good to you..so he lets the dogs do pretty much anything they want with him…like kiss him..

and hug him..

I love cuddles also with this little lion cub…

Until next time my friends…have a spook-tacular Halloween!!

My Second Award…WOW…

The darling Hagemor has again bestowed upon me an award! For my English speaking readers the award says: Award To a Fantastic Blog friend, encouraging, interested, and always there. I’m so touched by your kindness my friend!! If you don’t stop giving me awards I might get full of myself….ya never know…hahahaha…

So now that this wonderful kindness has been bestowed upon me it’s my duty to pass it along..and I could really give this to so many but I guess I’m limited to choosing only a few recipients. Still it’s hard to choose..there are so many fantastic blogs out there that inspire me and encourage me, teach me, and make me smile…so many wonderful blogs that make my mouth water and my heart sing..I’ve added a few links on the side panel of the blogs I visit most often but I have hundreds saved under my favourites which I also visit often..and I’m continuously finding new blogs which absolutely amaze me. So many talented, funny, interesting, charming, inspirational, fantastic, motivating, amazing people there are out there!!

I think the first person to get this award has to be Kelli in Denmark at Mads and Kelli for her positive attitude toward her new life in Denmark..it’s not easy living across the ocean from family and friends, starting pretty much from scratch but she always looks at everything in such a positive light, we could all learn something about being positive from this woman!!

The second person has to be Kate at Chronicles of a Country Girl who also is an extremely positive person in the face of a lot adversity..she is also an incredible inspiration with the camera..her photos bring peace to my soul and a smile to my face and I can never get enough of seeing the world through her eyes…

The third and final recipient must be Lady Fi at On A Quirky Quest With Lady Fi for being smarter then I’ll ever be and writing blog posts that make me have to think and for telling me about books I’ll probably never read but should! Her beautiful nature shots and adorable retriever photos make her blog a pure delight and a must stop every day!

It’s not fair that I have to stop with three but if I don’t stop with three I would end up putting links to every blog I read here and you’d have a heck of a time getting through all of those now wouldn’t you? So check out these amazing blogs, follow the links on the side of my blog here and check out some of these other amazing blogs and have a super evening my friends. I’ll leave you with a baby photo to put a smile on your face.

There is nothing cuter then a sleeping baby- don’t ya think?

Until next time my friends…

In The Heart Of The Woods…

Living in the middle of the woods our view isn’t exactly the best…I see trees..

and more trees…

Sometimes I see fog with the trees…that can be kinda neat..

And then sometimes I see things like this through the trees…

I love the way the sun shines through the trees as if to say goodbye and thanks for today…it’s peaceful and I like that…

Until next time my friends….

My World Tuesday

I was inspired by the lovely Hagemor today and decided to join the My World Tuesday gang and share some of my world with you. I have shared my world before but perhaps through this I can share it with even more people.

I’ve been so busy lately but yesterday I was thinking of you. One couldn’t say we have a spectacular view here in the woods but it’s ok, I love the privacy. However, last night through the woods toward dawn I saw the most amazing colour shining through the trees. Thinking of you all I jumped on the ATV and drove out of the woods and down to the main road and snapped these photos for you. It was cold…and I didn’t wear gloves..so my fingers were frozen like a popsicle…ahhh what I do for you my beloved readers!!

On my way back into the woods with the fire sky behind me I noticed the moon hanging very soft in the evening sky. I NEVER have been able to capture the moon in a photo..I’ve tried- believe me I’ve tried but I just get a white blob, however I snapped this little doozy and when I loaded it up and saw it wasn’t TOO bad I decided to share it..

Finally I’ve been so good about walking these last few days, breaking my dogs into two groups and taking one group of three dogs at a time. I haven’t had time for the gym but have been faithful in walking the dogs and watching what I eat and the scale is S.L.O.W.L.Y moving downwards…key word- SLOWLY. But hey, down is down right? We had a visit from Redman this past weekend and I snapped these shots of the little sweetheart….doesn’t he melt your heart?

It’s going to be crazy around here until the weekend so I will do my best to get back here as soon as I can- until then my friends…live your best life, smile, love, and laugh….

Friendship

It’s Friday and we have a scumptious quiche in the oven now, it smells heavenly all the garlic, onion, bacon, brocolli, mushrooms and melting cheese….mmm..

It’s dark outside….this is the norm in the winter…dark around 5…sometimes earlier…only a few hours of daylight..one truly feels like a bear ready to hibernate.

I thought I’d share some favourite friendship quotes and I’ve added a few photos…maybe you’ve seen them before but I hope you like the quotes. ;-))

Have a wonderful Friday evening everyone…

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.- Albert Pine

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four fingers are pointing back at himself. –Louis Nizer

The people and circumstances around me do not make me what I am, they reveal who I am.- Dr. Laura Schlessinger

You can’t stay in your corner of the forest, waiting for others to come to you; you have to go to them sometimes- Winnie the Pooh

Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you.-Elbert Hubbard

Until next time my friends..

Toftes Gave (Toftes Gift)

The building where I work right now has a dark past which to this day haunts certain people who walk it's halls..

Toftes Gift of Helgøya was Norway’s first child welfare institution, a gift to Christiana community by the wealthy business man Andreas Tofte. Until it was absolished in 1949, 3000 boys were at one time or another starved, abused, and harrassed there. At the most there were 160 boys living there and most would describe the institution as more of a prison (if not worse) then caring orphanage.

The boys would work the farm lands around the main building and work days could be 12 hours long. Discipline involved beatings, starvation, and the absolute worst were put in dark cells in the basement. The longest recorded stay in one of the cells was 14 days. They were not fed during these times and sanitation conditions were non-exsistent.

If the boys tried to escape from the island they were brought back by farmers who were paid to go out in their boats and bring the boys back.

The boys were also schooled when they weren’t working in the fields. They learned a variety of skills such as knitting, basket weaving, and wood working outside of regular school courses such as math.

Last year when I worked on the main land I heard stories from the women who worked here on the island about strange happenings here at the building we now call Midtun. Gates shutting themselves, doors also, walking through a hall and experiencing several variations in temperatures, shadows moving about, things missing, water being left on all night long so that it ran over the sink and onto the floor…the children claimed to see an older woman sitting in a corner of the various rooms knitting. The adults never saw her but the children described her and her description was correctly repeated each time there was a sighting. It was determined that it was the knitting teacher or home ecomonics teacher who the children were seeing..

Enough strange things were happening that it was decided they’d bring in a medium who could remove the spirits and send them on their way. According to those present when the medium visited Midtun this is what happened: The knitting teacher refused to move to the light because according to her she wasn’t dead! The medium also met several boys spirits and an older man’s spirit. The older man was sent into the light but the boys who posed no threat were left alone. Apparently the next day gates were slammed and according to the women who worked there at the time, it was very evident that the knitting teacher wasn’t happy that they had tried to remove her.

So you can imagine my anticipation about beginning work at Midtun this past August. While I can’t say I believe in ghosts I can’t say I don’t either..I haven’t been proven either way so anything could be possible. I made a lot of effort to be as cheery as I could the first weeks I worked there and especially when I was alone I’d sing or smile or just try and be positive, hoping my positive energy would ward off any scary ghost energy that happened to try and take contact. But nothing…no cold chills, no shadows, nothing, so I was able to relax and many of the women working with me said things were “quiet” now that they hadn’t noticed many of the things they had noticed before.

Well, today I was dressing a little girl and as I was dressing her she was looking down the hallway like she saw someone and without saying anything she pointed. I looked and didn’t see anyone and I instantly smiled and I asked her, “do you see someone honey?” she just nodded her head yes. I said, “is it an older woman?” again she nodded her head, yes…I just smiled, I didn’t see anything but had no reason not to believe she didn’t really think she saw someone. I finished dressing her and asked her if the woman was still there and she looked around me and down the hall and nodded her head yes again…so I of course shared this stuff with my co-workers and they said it’s starting up again, and that it was about time it had been quiet way too long. They just laughed like it was no big deal but I was kinda left thinking….huh…hmmm…ugh…hmmm…so I don’t know, I should probably keep that positive energy going at work and hope that today’s little episode is the worst that I experience at Tofte’s Gift (Midtun) and that will be ok. I’ll keep you posted how my ghost story develops…

What about you? Do you believe in ghosts? Sarah asked me this and I’ll ask you; Why do you think children see ghosts and we adults don’t?

Until next time my friends- keep the positive energy flowing….:-))

Breakfast Of Champions

So I’m totally motivated these days on my quest for a better life. I’ve been really good about going to the gym lately and taking walks with the dogs both the days I go to the gym and the days I don’t go. The scales even showed a 1kg loss after a few days- 2.2lbs for you Americans reading this. 1kg isn’t much but it’s a start and I think it’s smart to rejoice in every kilo down rather then think about the 24-29kg left I have to lose!! As Bob said in the movie, What About Bob, “Baby steps…”

I’ve been reading a lot about what breakfast is recommended to get the best start out of your day and below my friends is a breakfast of champions-

This is homemade oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, chopped almonds, and honey. As much as I dislike the consistency of this stuff and the taste is a bit bland for my taste buds, this really does fill me up for the whole morning and keeps me going. I know that many of the health nuts out there would eat this stuff without the honey and perhaps the raisins, but hello, I plan on making this a lifestyle and one thing I couldn’t stand is if someone said I could never eat this or that…then I rebel and eat it…so my motto is everything within reason.

I had my chicken curry sandwich for lunch today at work and the kids were all watching me eat as they ate their plain little whole grain breads with liver patè or strawberry jam…I had to laugh. I made an extra point of making a bunch of “mmmmmm” sounds while I was eating…hahaha..

My kids are doing a great job of cheering me on in this quest for a new life and even the dogs are doing their best to motivate me- my “little” baby Bently has been cheering me on in the best viking style…don’t you think?

I wrote something on my facebook profile today which got a few appreciative comments and I’ll share with you..I thought it was rather clever and I came up with it all by myself!

I'm thinking I'll be rich by the end of today...Rich on the experiences I'll have, rich on the people I'll meet, and rich on the smiles I'll see! Have a rich day everyone!!

Don’t you think that is clever? I never stop amazing myself with what I come up with…hehehe…

Have a great day folks..Until next time..

Amy’s Chicken Curry Salad Sandwiches..

Hi everyone! I’m back and with this scrumptious little honey to share with you…As you can see by the title, I’m taking full credit for this little baby! I have been looking around online for a chicken salad recipe and found several chicken curry recipes but I didn’t have all the ingredients they listed on hand. So what does one do in a situation like this? Improvise!!

First the rolls…these I baked as I made the rest of this recipe and unfortunately for those in America I don’t have a recipe for these as I cheated in making these. I used the following:

For those of you in Norway or any of the Scandinavian countries where you can buy this stuff, here is a secret trick I learned at work, you take one bag of whole wheat roll flour and one bag of light and fluffy roll flour and mix it…this gives you whole grain rolls which are light and fluffy!! They are even soft the day after. You lucky people in America can buy something similar at your local bakery- any good whole grain rolls will work and if you can find some you can bake yourself it’s even better.

After you get your rolls going, fry up some chicken breast…I used about this much og my Swedish chicken breasts I bought in Sweden..

I spiced them up with garlic pepper, sea salt, and a dash of Old Bay Spice (which is kind of like grill krydder here in Norway). Any spices you use when frying chicken will work. The best is if you have leftover breasts and need something to do with them- because you want your chicken meat cold.

Now this next part will get a little bit sketchy because I don’t measure…I took about one carrot and shredded it into a bowl, add about 1/2 shredded apple, little more then half a red onion chopped in very tiny pieces, and two garlic cloves chopped finely as well. Rip your chicken up and add this to the mixture. Now as far as the dressing goes, I’ve seen some recipes suggest yoghurt and mayonaise, and some recommend kesam and mayonaise…I only had mayonaise and light cream fraiche. I used about three quarters of the box of cream fraiche which would be a little over one cup I think, and about two tablespoons of light mayonaise. Mix this together until you get a creamy consistence and add pepper, sea salt, and curry powder to taste. I refridgerated this while I waited for the rolls and when the rolls were ready added thin slices of iceberg salad, cherry tomato slices, the chicken curry salad and a piece of bacon (fried) and split in two on top. For those of you in Norway, if you’ve ever eaten the Tandoori chicken baguettes at La Baguette, this reminded all of us of that meal….WONDERFUL.

I know what I’ll be taking to work tomorrow for lunch!!! This was so wonderful and easy and will defintely be something we make again. I’ve been bored silly with food lately and looking to be inspired with new healthy meals. I would say this meal was fairly healthy, even though I used some mayonaise and cream fraiche they were light versions and I don’t think did too much damage.

Bon Appetite my friends!!!

Until next time……

Finally Friday :-))

I’m really glad the weekend is here, I need it. I need the down time. Yes, I know I’m such a wimp, I’ve only worked three days this week- outside the home, but as most mothers know the real work is at home not the job you get paid for!! So between my paid job and my unpaid job I’ve been going going….gone…

Last night I baked a carrot cake for my boss who has a birthday today. To be honest, it’s Friday and I think it’s nice to start the weekend on a sweet note..hahaha..and her birthday just gave me an excuse for making a cake without having to come up with one myself!!

I love carrot cake and I’m assuming the carrots will count as the healthy part of this cake!! I’m not worried I’ll eat too much of this sinful pleasure as I’ll be sharing with 17 kids and at least 5 adults if not more, depending on who comes in from other departments..hahaha..but a little taste is better then none.

I’ve been good about working out this week. I’ve been at the gym twice and walked the dogs every day in the woods for an hour, even the days I was at the gym! I’m so sore in my body, I think if I could just learn to keep it going and get past this initial soreness I’d be fine. But I am known for starting strong and then falling off and every time you start up again it’s really hard and your body lets you know it!

 

Working with kids is exercise in itself…they are constantly busy and always on the move…you just never know what they will think of next. Yesterday we took a small group of children (8 total) to a place in the woods not too very far from our daycare/preschool but far enough for the kids that they really felt they were on a hike…they’ve set up a Lavo which looks exactly like an Indian Tee-pee, hope I spelled that correctly and if I didn’t I hope you had a good laugh (laughing is healthy).

Inside this lavo they have made a BBQ pit with a grill on top, so we grilled hot dogs and played in the woods and then we heard sheep bells so we went looking for them and found a whole flock who quickly ran when my noisy little group arrived giggling and talking as they do!!

Hope everyone will have a great Friday! I’m off to work and in the supposed words of Marie Anoinette (later proven that she did not actually use this quote) “Let them eat cake!”

Until next time my friends…

Moose

I know the majority of you reading this blog won’t understand the language in this video- but just watch what happens…it’s amazing the size of this animal…

This is why I’ve been so afraid to walk in the woods around here the last month or so, because I thought we still had these guys here on the island. However, our neighbour told us there were hunters here for three days trying to hunt the moose on our island and they couldn’t find any!!! So we’re back in the woods walking…it’s great!!!

Let’s hope they don’t come back here for a long long time!!!

Have a great day everyone…

Innovative Ideas

I love when people inspire me! What people come up with will never stop amazing me and right now in Norway there is a commercial running for innovative projects and ideas, apparently a contest held by the Norwegian Yellow Pages. These are some of the winners…I love this first one although I think the wheel I’d have to build would be gigantic to fit a leo in there, however, we have the little Aussie, so she might do quite well in something like this!! And check out that car with all the stuff on it, that’s sure one way of moving your belongings!!!

As you can tell I’ve been a bit limited on ideas for my blog lately, hence all the videos but hey you have to admit they have been entertaining whilst my brain is thinking of something exciting to write for you!!

I’m heading to the gym this morning, maybe I should take my cell phone along and video tape my enormous efforts at the gym..or those of the people around me??? hahahaha…

I will take a moment to say the last few days I’ve been surfing some new blogs and again, people never stop to amaze me, all of the interesting, cool, exciting things you guys write about- I’m speechless! That is why I feel I’m fumbling here trying to find something equally impressive to serve all of you who take a moment to pop in here.

I’ve found some interesting expat blogs of life in Norway and it’s fun to read their impressions of this land I’ve called home for the last 14 years. It’s making me reflect on my own impressions of Norway so maybe my blog will begin to reflect that particular thinking as well, at least for awhile.

In the meantime my friends, be sure to check out the blogs I’ve linked here on the sidebar, they usually contain lots of exciting stuff, so whatever you’re missing here you’ll get there and you can of course follow links from their blogs as well, it’s a never ending blog link!!!

Remember to smile and have a great day everyone!

Until next time….

An Autumn Walk…

Blue skies and sunshine invited us into the autumn woods…There is a song the Norwegian children sing when they walk in the woods which VERY loosely translated goes something like this:

I walked along the path and searched the woodland calm. I heard from the hills a bird that said Coo Coo…coo coo coo coo coo.. This is one of those things that is much better in Norwegian- trust me! Still, I hope you enjoy the photos below!

Needless to say some of us were more pooped then others after this walk! ;-))

Until next time my friends, have a wonderful Monday!