My New Work Place :-)

I’m really ashamed at how bad I am about updating my blog. Why any of you bother to check in here is beyond me, there are so many incredible blogs out there who blog daily and here I come with my once in a blue moon post…well, for those interested, I’ve been so busy getting my new work place ready. This past week I’ve been shopping twice with my bosses in order to get things for the kitchen. It’s really coming along nicely and I’ve gotten some really fun things! It is so much fun shopping with other people’s money ;-))

Our new barnehage (which would be nursery/kindergarten in English, with kids from 0-6 years of age) is really coming along nicely, it’s going to be the best in all of our community! The move was delayed because the outside wasn’t finished but as you can see in the photos they are really moving on the outside and everything is suppose to be done by next Wednesday when we can put the final touches on the place until the kids move in on the 8th of November!! So exciting!!

Top photo is the outside of the building near the main entrance. Second photo is outside the windows near my kitchen…this is suppose to be a bird (the playhouse)…they are making art out of the play equipment…I’ll take a photo when it’s all done so we can all see the bird, because to be honest I don’t see it yet, but I see one very cool playhouse!! The bottom photo is the 100 acres woods (from Winnie The Pooh) only ours is called 100 meter skogen. Only two of the playground equipment are up in there right now but there will be several others placed throughout and the guys working on this area were told to leave as much of the woods alone so the kids could play with things and use their imagination.

The first photo here is coming into the big kitchen area and common room. The kitchen I’ll work in and the common room will be one and the same. So you can see this from various angles in the photos above. Sorry about the bad lighting…and I hadn’t turned the lights on in the kitchen!! The second photo from the bottom (top) is my storage room- my new freezer is in there plus my new fridge (photos taken before they arrived) and I’ll get two more fridges for that room plus there is shelving on both sides. It’s a mess still but it will be perfect when the kids arrive…

The first two photos above are from one of the large kid’s areas..there will be three older children’s departments and three younger children’s departments. The last photos are from the younger children’s area…each of the younger children’s departments have their own little kitchen as I’ll only make food for the older kids. One of the neat things about the kitchens that I didn’t photograph (of course) is that they have a raised floor on one side of the kitchen counter so the kids can go up and be level with the counter and the adults and work at the same height as the adults. Pretty neat! The last photo here is one of the rooms where the baby strollers will be when the babies are sleeping..they sleep in their strollers in these rooms in the winter months.

The first photo is our personal room where we can take breaks and such, there is a kitchen in there also, but I took a photo of the sofa area as I love the colors here…it’s so fresh and clean…and then you have yours truly..with her “cooking hat”….I was joking around in IKEA’s children area and said, “look at me” and showed my bosses this hat on my head and they laughed so hard and said I had to have it to cook with…hahaha, they only got me this one but then on second thought they want me to pick up the hat with the birthday cake on it and the hat with fruit on it, tomorrow when I go back to IKEA…..

Yeah, I’m going back to IKEA tomorrow, after the dog show. Jackson is going to his first puppy show near Oslo…doesn’t he look nice all bathed and fresh for his first show…

I’ve had today off from work and I’ve done nothing but make homemade tomato soup (very spicy but so yummy) with roasted garlic, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. I had to have some homemade bread with this so I made some Norwegian Kurvetbrød…(basically rolls folks) which were so yummy. And then I made cookies…

Oatmeal raisin and chocolate chunk (with both white and dark chocolate). I used the following recipe but instead of chips I used chocolate bars chopped up…and some raisins…just a few cause Sarah doesn’t like raisins in her food…ugh..can you imagine??

Original Recipe Yield 3 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Ahhh, ya gotta love her, even though she doesn’t eat raisins in her cookies or cakes…

I bought some flowers tonight, there is a flower shop here that lets you mix and match to make your own bouquets..so I bought enough for two bouquets and I have one upstairs and one downstairs. I told Stig they were from him, because I’m sure if he was here he would have bought be flowers. Not sure he got my humour there but he said I was welcome….he guessed! ;-))

Pretty aren’t they? Even though I didn’t get such great lighting cause it was dark when I took the photos…

Doesn’t the Captain have great taste in flowers??? hehehehe…

Oh the new dishwasher came today, will take photos tomorrow if I remember and post them next time. What a luxury! Never thought about how great it is to have a dishwasher until it’s gone for several months!! I’m wondering how long it will take me to get  back to thinking washing dishes by hand is charming? hehehe…

Ok folks, have a super weekend and be happy!!

Until next time my friends….