Rock Stars…

So Julia’s band is starting to take off…they’ve finally chosen a name, Off Limits, and they performed three songs together at a local event not to long ago…

Mamma was none to happy with that dress she wore to their first concert- I thought she looked grandmotherly when this is totally a young and hip band…

They’ve made a facebook page which you can check out if you’d like- it’s only in Norwegian, but they’ll be putting out information and photos and videos from their band. Just search Off Limits and you’ll see a construction looking sign in yellow and black- that is them.

I offered to take some photos of them today to have on their facebook pages and they had a great time…it was obvious this gang enjoys each others company and have a fun time together…

They aren’t Aerosmith, but who knows what the future holds, right now they’re having fun with this and it’s a healthy activity for these up and coming superstars!

Every good band needs groupies….right? I found these lurking about, do you suppose they’ll do?? hahahaha…

Until next time my friends….

Nutty Springtime ;-)

Check this weather- does this look like springtime?

This was the weather at the beginning of last week…it’s thankfully stopped snowing…..for the moment! Now we are covered in fog- I’d take a photo of that for you but it would be nothing but white…it seriously looks like we are stuck in a cloud…and when it clears throughout the day it’s grey like in this photo only minus the snow. I’m seriously ready for some green….

We participated in Earth Hour last night and our home was lit with tons of candles..

After three rounds with Yatzy I finally won and we could call it an evening with the Yatzy playing! ;-) Best to quit while one is ahead- don’t you think?

This morning I woke at 6:30…or so I thought, forgot that we moved our clocks forward one hour last night so it was actually 7:30! Haven’t slept til 7:30 in a long long time! I decided to use my morning effectively to try out a new recipe and make a classic….first chocolate covered almonds dusted with coco powder…

Start by melting about 400 grams of milk chocolate or any other chocolate you like..I didn’t really measure but used two bars of milk chocolate which were about 200 grams a piece..

Add about 200 grams of almonds and toss to coat with the chocolate…then pour a mixture of coco powder and powdered sugar (4+3 TBSP) and place on a cookie sheet…

Let this mixture set in the fridge until the chocolate gets firm. Shake off the extra powder and break into pieces and voila….

These are very good so it might be best to share!

Finally I had three nasty looking bananas on my counter which I either was going to toss or make into banana bread…I chose the last option and the recipe was straight forward and easy- everything in one bowl and mix, pour into a greased bread pan and set in the oven for about 50 minutes…the house smells wonderful while this is baking…

Banana Bread

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 Egg

1 C mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)

3/4 C sugar

1/4 C oil

1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (optional- I didn’t use this)

1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans (optional- again, I didn’t use this)

Mix everything and bake at 350F (180C) for about 50 minutes or until the knife comes out clean..let cool and serve…mmmmm….

Birdy has come in heat on Friday and so we will be taking her into the vet after the weekend and taking a progesterone test on her to see when she will be ready to be inseminated with the handsome male we’ve chosen for her from France. I have to admit, I like it much better when nature can take it’s course by itself without our intervention but since Voulè is in France and Birdy is in Norway we have to help….cross your fingers that we get puppies in June! Below is the beautiful Birdy and under her photo the handsome Voulè. The boys here in the house are going nuts- especially Redman…you’d never know they only have one testicle…they are acting completely nutty and we’ve had to seperate them from Birdy already…ugh, going to be a long couple weeks!

Birdy

Voulè

Stig and I have been discussing what we can do with the kids during Easter, I’m working tomorrow and then I’m off for a week….we’re kind of at a loss as to what we will do…what are you doing for Easter? Anything special?

Until next time my friends…..

The Joys Of Saving Our Climate

Tonight is Earth Hour my friends, have you bought your candles, decided what you’ll do for a whole hour in the dark? My kids are so excited about this, Julia has been talking about this all week and how she is looking forward to family time. We’ve bought some candles and have the Yatzy lined up!! Should be a great evening!

If you haven’t signed up to participate in Earth Hour go to this link: Earth Hour Website and sign up, this way you’ll be counted as participating and we’ll have a clearer idea how many have helped out around the world! This is going to be the biggest Earth Hour ever!!

Now I want to share with you some of the joys of saving our climate…because when we save the climate Sarah and I can enjoy walks like the ones below….some are documented with bad photographs and others with bad video..I’m terribly sorry you’ll have to turn your head sideways in order to “enjoy” these videos…but they aren’t long and if you get a crink in your neck, get your loved ones to give you a massage under Earth Hour tonight!!! I’m so clever!!!

How deep is your snow when you walk the dogs in the winter?

And now for the exciting videos…everyone ready? Tilt your head a bit to the left and press play….

The final joy of saving our climate I want to share with you is sunsets like this one…if we all do our part then our grandkids and great grandkids can enjoy a view like this too…

I hope your necks survived the videos…I’ll try and remember how it goes next time I’m taking video with my phone…hahahaha…

Until next time my friends…have a great Saturday and a great Earth Hour!

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life….

Hello my blog friends, thanks for stopping by! As you can tell I’ve been missing in action for a few days. This has been one very hectic week and I haven’t felt this tired in a long time. I’ve got one more work day before Easter vacation and I’m really looking forward to this break. Everything closes up during Easter in Norway. This was extremely frustrating the first years I was here, but now I appreciate the break from pressure to shop and go places and do stuff- everything during Easter happens at our own pace and I love this.

I’ve been soul searching again and while I’m not going to share everything with you…..at least not right now…I wanted to share a little of what is buzzing in my head these days…

One question that has been floating around in my head lately is, how important is it to stand for what you believe in, even if the cost (and I’m not just thinking monetary here) is high? When do you back down and find a common ground or a middle ground and when do you hold out til the very end?

Do you follow someone blindly because they are older, bigger, or in charge?

When do you question the intentions of someone else you think you should trust with all your heart…

And what do you hear inside yourself that makes you feel NOW is the time to follow your heart no matter what anyone else thinks?

Can the pressures of what everyone else thinks or believes force you to give up your own thoughts and join them- just to keep from making waves?

I heard this song today and it makes me smile and it’s a great song in a time of soul searching, a time of doubt, a time of confusion…even if it doesn’t give me the answers I’m looking for….it brings a smile to my face and for these 3.5 minutes I forget about all the worries in life and just look on the bright side of life….

Until next time my friends…..

In Life….

It’s important to stretch for the things you really want……

And have patience if they don’t come to you right away…

This life lesson has been brought to you by the lionesses and two little lion kings of Eventyrhus….(click photos as they don’t completely appear as they should under the post)

Until next time my friends…..oh and don’t forget to leave your pawprint (comment) before you leave!!! :-))

Make Sure You Get Left In The Dark

It’s seldom I get on the soap box and promote taking a stand for a cause- I’m the silent type, do my own thing and let the rest of you figure things out for yourself…however, this is an easy thing to do and it says so much in such a simple act.

The WWF is behind the action Earth Hour which is the biggest mass climate action ever. On March 27th 2010 at 8:30PM (20:30 for those in Europe) you’ll be asked to turn off your lights for one hour, Earth’s hour…..Be sure to sign in when you visit the link above so that you’ll be counted and then remember to turn your lights off for an hour…lots of great things can happen in the dark and nothing is more romantic or peaceful then an evening by candlelight, so who knows maybe Earth’s hour could turn into a whole evening! ;-) The history of this action is also found under the link and you can see how every year the movement has gotten bigger and bigger. There is even a facebook group supporting Earth Hour for those who are interested in joining.

The lionesses, our little lion kings, and Jenny the wonder dog will be participating, trying hard not to fall over one another in the dark. I’ll light candles and keep them far enough up from waving tails which seem to sweep everything on the coffee table off if they get the chance..it might be a great evening to take a walk out of the woods and see how many others around the Mjøsa lake are participating. Usually the towns are lit up like pretty jewels around the lake, so it will be interesting to see how dark it is that evening.

Be sure and spread the word and let’s make this year’s Earth Hour the biggest ever!

Until next time my friends…

Slow Day, So Let’s Talk About Frozen Dead Guy

We’ve been going and going for days now and finally decided we needed a day where nothing much happens. On days like those you can surf the internet and see what’s happening in the world and read interesting articles about frozen dead guys….like this one in the Norwegian Newspaper VG Frozen Dead Guy or for my English readers you can check out what this is all about here.

Now to say that A Frozen Dead Guy festival in America is shocking would be a lie…you have to love America- anything is possible in that country, the weird, the strange, the odd, the misplaced, the what-the-hell-?, it’s all allowed in America and loved and revered….heck the Frozen Dead Guy festival is proof of that. Not sure the Norwegians would hold a festival for a dead guy who is hoping to come back from the dead someday.

And here is a question….check out the picture of “Grandpa” Bredo….would you want to come back for a second chance at life looking like that? He should have frozen himself earlier if he really believed in this stuff…but that is just my humble opinion….

Ok, I’m off to find something entertaining to do. With 6 dogs in the house this shouldn’t be difficult but I’m thinking I’ll spice things up today by doing a little laundry or something…I dunno, I might go wild and sweep and wash floors, who knows? Yesterday I made the fur gang some liver cookies…

I tell you what, they were nuts about these. So much so that I started thinking crazy thoughts, like bagging these and selling them in pet stores…along with some other yummy things I’ve made for the gang…I mean, with six taste testers in the house I can’t go wrong- can I? Although….on second thought, I’ve caught them eating dog poop before so that doesn’t say much about their taste preferences! Then again, I’ve never seen them so eager for dog poop as they were for these little cookies…hmmmm…well, it’s a thought! Have you ever thought about starting a business? What stopped you?

Until next time my friends….

Barnyard Animals And Doggies…

Yesterday we took a trip up to Gausdal which is about an hour away from us, to visit Shakira and her family. As I’ve mentioned they’re great people who always make you feel at home and we enjoy each other’s company every time we’re together. The main reason we went up was to let Redman have a chance to be around horses since he freaked out when we passed a couple horses on our walk.

The horses were no problem yesterday, he didn’t even care about them and we even got him and his brother to run behind the sled. I know I’m not in the pictures but I actually took a couple rounds with the sled and the boys and I have to tell you I laughed so hard, watching these guys run behind the sled in the snow, Bently especially was getting tired fast and tried several times to get a leg up on the sled when it slowed down but never made it…hahaha…Told Stig we needed a horse and sled to exercise the dogs…sure was fun!!

The girls also got to ride Toril’s other horses and they had a blast. Both of these horses are either in their 20’s or close too it, I didn’t really pay attention very well, but they’re older horses and yet you’d never have known it. Julia, my speed loving child tested the speed of her ride to the fullest…wish I could have gotten better shots of the snow flying as she ran across the field with her horse…I was really impressed Sarah stayed on and actually enjoyed herself, just never taken her for a horse person but she had fun and was even asking if we could get a horse for the summer…yeah….like pickin apples huh? Soooo easy….

 

There were also sheep at this farm and Redman did great and Bently only cared who had the treats in their pockets…

There were ducks and chickens also, but none of the dogs (even the herding dog Jenny) cared really about them…Bently was only interested in checking out their food when he got to go inside their stall….the rest kinda stood outside and looked in…

The ducks however were not too happy with their visitors and pappa duck shook his tail feathers like mad and made a bunch of honking sounds until we got Bently out.

The pigs on the other hand were curious and interested in the dogs just as the dogs were with them, though we didn’t let them in the same pen as the pigs..they said hello through the fence and over the fence…I thought I heard the dog’s growling once but it was the pigs…never knew they growled like that….made me nervous…

I was thinking also that if I ever have a bad hair day or just don’t feel my prettiest, I’m going to remember this little lady….and that things could definitely be worse…

The girl pigs were double in size to the males and I asked Toril’s 9 year old daughter why this was…she said, because the girls want all the food….for a moment I really related to these pig ladies…but then I shook it off, was almost cake time….hahahaha…

First Redman said hello to the sheep inside and Jenny also gave them a once over and nothing more…was totally shocked by our little herding dog but was told maybe she would have acted differently if the ducks were wandering around the yard or she was in with the sheep….but we didn’t test that theory.

Would have loved to show you a photo of the carrot cake, but we ate it before I thought about taking a photo of it…and by that time it was ALL GONE…just love carrot cake, but the kids all asked me to bring chocolate cake next time…so I’ll make a coca cola cake next time- that is the best chocolate cake ever.

We ended the day with some fur family photos and the sun was hitting the puppies fur so nicely so they look like golden lions…I’m so proud of them all and Redman really did well, we’re noticing more and more improvement in him these weeks we’ve had him. Tonight we’re heading to Lillehammer for dog classes. Last week we had to take Redman out, he was so focused on a collie there and we couldn’t get in touch with him…but we will keep trying…until he realizes there is nothing to be afraid of.

Until next time my friends….