Eeeny Meeny Miny Mo……

After being told by my Dad that I don’t blog regularly enough anymore for him to check my blog daily anymore, I decided it is time to sharpen my act up here. I really do apologize for the disappearing act, it isn’t intentional and I am no busier then any of you…it is a combination of a lot of things. Trying to keep busy exercising and doing things which will help me lose weight…and sitting in front of the computer isn’t one of them…and the gorgeous weather we have had lately, invites for long evenings out on the veranda in the company of my beloved Captain and kiddos…

The Captain and I have been biking a lot lately….well, a lot for us. We have taken several trips around the island here which is about 11 km we have heard (about 7 miles) and then on Friday we took a long bike trip to Stavsjø which is about 11km one way, so round trip 22km (about 14 miles). It is still hard and I still breathe like a rabid animal but I don’t get off the bike…I stay on the whole time which is a huge accomplishment for me. Slow and steady will win this race- I truly believe that.

On Saturday the Captain and I went to the Vikingship in Hamar which was built under the 1994 Winter Olympics and housed the skating ring. Every spring and every fall there is a huge antique and collector’s market there and you can find hundreds of booths with everything and anything!! It is so much fun and I can spend hours just wandering around…which I did on Saturday. The Captain had to sit down after the third round and let me just wander a bit by myself…he was terribly surprised when I came back empty handed, but I am picky and the majority of things I wanted were out of my price range. But I did get a few things…

Unfortunately I do not have a talent for interior so I get the majority of my ideas from magazines and I have seen various items used for flower pots so when I saw this bucket and potty pot and tea pot I thought they would make great flower pots….and with my new flowers I think it all comes together quite nicely…don’t you? I bargained all these items down also so I got everything for about 400kroner! Trust me, at an antique market- that is good! I fell in love with a child’s potty chair from the 1800’s which was so adorable and would have made the cutest planter..but it was 1100kroner…and I agreed with the Captain that was a bit much for a flower pot holder!!

I am going to fill up the pots I have with some of the following flowers I ordered at Botanisk Verden (Botanical World) However, I am sure I will need more before the summer is over…so the hunt is on for fun flower pots…what is the most original flower pot you have ever used?

Below are photos of the flowers I have ordered. I am hooked on Dahlia’s so there will be a lot of those…but I also got some other flowers. I will try and write the name of the flowers under the photos…

Basilikum ’Floral Spires’

Begonia ’Sherbert Bon Bon®’

Fuksia ’Blue Sarah’

Echinacea ’Pow Wow Wild Berry’

Impatiens Fiesta Olè ’Purple Stripe’

DEKORATIVE DAHLIA 'Lady Darlene'

DEKORATIVE DAHLIA 'Caribben Fantasy'

DAHLIA 'Bisty'

DAHLIA 'Night Butterfly'

I know some of these words are probably Norwegian, it is a Norwegian garden center and I just copied the names…because you see folks, I haven’t a clue what I am doing when it comes to my garden, I just go to a garden center in person or online and say….eeny meeny miny mo…I like you….let’s go!!! HAHAHAHA….there are many ways to garden, this is my way!!

Yesterday after I got my pots I needed some flowers for them so we went to the garden center here (Plantasje for the Norwegians reading) and I got the following:

Intichancha “Temple of the Sun”

DAHLIA 'Siedlerstolz'

I also got a yellow mini petunia type plant…but didn’t take a photo of it as it didn’t have a lot of blooms just yet.

The garden center also had a sale on Magnolia trees and I have been wanting one for some time so I finally got one. The one I got will be 2 meters high when she is fully grown. I had looked at another but it was going to be 6 meters high and the Captain thought that would be too high…so Magnolia tree Susan came home with us….I am hoping she will enjoy it here and grow to be a strong lovely girl with lots of blooms..

I think our rock garden will have to be replanted as the dogs have been using it as a toliet all winter and the poor flowers that are there are struggling…so we will have to re-think how we can keep the dogs out of the rock beds and what we will plant there.

These dogs….

You’d think they owned the place…their fur is everywhere….and they plop down whereever they want and there they stay…

Until someone walks by or rides their bike by….then the gang feels it is their duty to let those who pass by know that this is their place….and they are watching ya!!!! Grrrrrrrrowl!!!!

But mostly they just chill…..I love my chilled out lion dogs…

Finally a couple quickie recipes to share with you that I ate and loved this past week. I made the one up and the other one I kinda had to wing a little as I didn’t have apple cider vinegar in the house, so I used regular clear vinegar and it worked. Here is the recipe for the Broccoli Salad.

The second recipe is the one I made up…we are big on crab sticks here…it’s healthy and good but it can be a little plain. So I mixed this up with some red onion chopped finely, some red paprika chopped finely, a carrot shredded, and some finely chopped cucumber and finally some mayonaise. To kick it up a knotch I used a spice called Sambal Oelek…be careful with this one…she can pack a punch if you use too much of her but a teaspoon should be plenty to make your tounge tingle but not go bananas…I ate mine on Wasa Sport Knekkebrød (Cracker bread) and with some hard cooked egg..

For those of you waiting for your prizes, I just got the last one yesterday so everything is going out on Monday ok? Hopefully by Wednesday everyone has their stuff!!

And for those of you wondering about Julia..she is doing better…she has been home resting all week with a mild concussion but as you can tell by this photo she took of herself with my camera…she is doing pretty well, all things considered!

Ok Dad (and everyone else) I am going to do my best to blog a little more often…but have patience with me…when the weather is so beautiful I can’t help myself…I have to be outside…and starting tomorrow we will be attending an obedience class every Monday for six weeks with Jackson and Nanna…so I promise to blog but I ask you to be patient with me ok? I want to thank everyone who stops in here and reads about my humble little existence and to those of you who leave a comment (eh hem) an extra big thanks…I love being able to find new blogs and hearing from those of you who stop in, if you like what you read or don’t, if you think there is no need for me to rush with my posts because they aren’t that interesting….it’s cool…just tell me what’s on your mind I love to hear from you!!!

Until next time my friends…..