Life Lesson Number 1

And so I begin with things I’ve been learning in my life. Remember these are MY life lessons and some might apply to you and your life and some might not…but these are things I’m learning that are important for my life.

As most of you who read my blog know, I’m a dog person…

I love my dogs and my breed of choice- the leonberger- isn’t exactly a lap dog or one of those gucci type dogs you can put in a purse- I sure wouldn’t want to carry a leo in a purse thanks!!

We (The Captain and I) use to talk about my parents situation, my mother became obessed with the idea of starting a mini horse farm when she couldn’t find anything else worthy of doing…it was a hobby she had shared with her Dad and perhaps in some way she was trying to reconnect with that time? However, she went bananas in buying horses for her farm and breeding them and at last count I think there was like 26-30 of the little guys running around my parent’s place!  We would get so frustrated because my mother’s hobby was keeping my parents from having money to come visit us, do other things in their life, etc. (at least these were our thoughts) I use to say to Stig that I never wanted to get out of control when it came to my hobby and I’d hope that he would have the guts to say stop to me if I ever got out of hand with my dog hobby.

Well, over the years that is exactly what has happened, things got out of control. But hey- look at these guys…it’s easy to lose control…

We moved to Helgøya with a couple leo girls…then we added another…at the time we had old mamma Heidi…and knew her time was limited…so we had to get a new mascot, in comes Jenny the wonder dog who we have now begun calling Sarah’s dog so she won’t technically count under our dogs. Then my dream came true when in 2009 I had my first leonberger litter of puppies…the plan wasn’t to keep any, we were going to put one guy out in a co-owner home…

….but we fell…..and we fell hard for this butterball bear cub we call Bently. Anyone who spends two minutes with him will understand why we couldn’t let him go…despite the fact that he can’t be used in showing or breeding because he only has one testicle, there was never a discussion among our immediate family that this guy wouldn’t stay here forever.

Then this past summer we again had another litter and this guy was set to stay…

Jackson….the long awaited grandson after my beloved soul dog, Ben, whom I lost way too early. We had discussed that having two boys would be our plan and that once the girls were gone someday we’d just have boys…two..maybe three max. If we kept girls it would be in co-owner homes. That was the plan.

Then hell broke loose in my life and one of the things I had to take a long hard look at was my hobby. It was stealing precious time away from me and from my marriage. I wasn’t noticing the stolen time because I was on auto pilot, I just went through the motions of the day, did what I had to do the best I could and didn’t ask more of myself. I made excuses to myself saying my time would come later when the dogs passed of natural causes. I’d have more time for my marriage once the dogs were gone of natural causes and the kids were moved out…it wasn’t so bad that the puppies were chewing the wood in our home, scraping up doors and windows, and peeing everywhere on our floors…that could all be fixed? I kept focusing on tomorrow and never today…I bogged my life down with so much that I left no time to take care of me, no time to enjoy my hobby, it was just work and stress. I use to joke with people that no one in their right mind should have six/seven dogs…and yet I did….I use to say to people when I told them we were keeping Jackson that the craziness continued and then I’d laugh…but I was thinking inside that I really was crazy…but I was on a roll….I was on auto pilot, I couldn’t stop and the Captain couldn’t tell me no either. He loved me and knew I loved what I was doing, even though he saw the stress it brought me and how much time it took from me and limited us in so many ways in our life and the things we could do together.

We’ve compromised…I’m still a dog person, I still love this breed and I still want dogs…but I agree now that we need to cut down. It’s been a hard decision and many have been concerned about me having to give up my girls…but it’s the right thing to do, not only for me but for them. They can’t possibly be getting everything they need no matter how hard I try when there is so many of them and only me who really wants to do stuff with them. I’ve talked to Birdy’s breeder in Finland and she wants both Birdy and Nanna…but she has too many at her house also (maybe a more common phenomonen then any of us care to admit?) so she is trying to look for co-owner homes for them and then she will come get them. Since Jenny is “technically” Sarah’s dog and will eventually leave with Sarah when she moves out someday, she isn’t counted when I count how many dogs I have. So once Birdy and Nanna are in Finland I will have three leos, Isabella, Bently, and Jackson. Shakira is still mine on paper but lives with my co-owner family so again, “technically” doesn’t count. I have possibilities to breed with Isabella and maybe someday Shakira, but I’m not sure anymore that I want to do that. I will never say never…but I think I’m leaning more toward a couple really nice stud dogs who can be dad’s and I can be a grandma to lovely puppies without all the work…

Then my house can stay nice…

I do love it when my house looks nice…and doesn’t smell like pee…when there isn’t hair on my new sofa and chairs and the wood isn’t all chewed…there is a lot of wood in this house…

So my life lesson number one….do not overload your life. Even when it is something you love…you’ll get more out of your hobby or your life in general if you can enjoy it instead of stressing your way through it.

I’ll leave you with a bad photo..(sorry) of a desert which in this photo wasn’t cooked yet, but it is so easy and so good and fits so well with autumn that I have to share it. I guess Americans might think of it as a sort of cobbler- that is what I think of but it could almost be compared to a pie but without all the crust…it’s good that is all ya need to know!!

I got this from a woman I work with so I’ll call this after her:

Elisabeth’s Apple and Raisin Desert

There was no specific recipe she told me to do the following:

Slice apples and sprinkle cinnamon over the apples- coat well with cinnamon.

Add raisins (however many you want after how much you like raisins)

Then for the topping mix equal amounts of flour, sugar, and margarine and I have added quick oats- blend well and sprinkle over the apples and raisins….warm in the oven at about 200C or 400F until golden and scrumptiously warm…serve with vanilla ice cream or here in Norway we can get vanilla sauce which is also heavenly with this desert.

Ok my friends, may your bellies be full and your Monday be great!

Until next time….