Believing In Something You Can´t See

               A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing.
                                                                   Victor Hugo

I think, well for me at least, one of life´s great questions is what happens to us when we are done with our life here on Earth? Don´t worry, I haven´t got an answer for you, so I am not going to try and convince you of something...however, it is a question that swivels around in my head constantly and I find myself being swayed in my decisions as to what I think happens to us by things I experience and things I hear. I know in my heart though that this answer will never be completely found until my last breath is taken. Still, it´s extremely interesting to ponder what becomes of us when we have drawn our last breath. Various religions believe various things, this isn´t a Sunday school class so I won´t try and act like I am all knowing about the various religions out there...but to say there are as many varied opinions as to what happens to us as there are people in the world is probably safe to say. Some believe we become one with nature again, while others believe we move on to a new life, others believe we go up to heaven and some believe our souls continue to live on here on Earth. I´m sure there are many other beliefs and these are just some...but that something happens to us after this life is something I like to believe in. Otherwise, what is the point of this life? What is the point of our existence here? To see what kind of education we can get? What kind of car we can afford? And how many friends we ultimately have? Why are we here? 


Perhaps, there is no connection between why we are here and where we go next? I don´t know? I heard something one time about when you die, your soul eventually moves on to another life...and keeps repeating this until it just doesn´t move on someday. Which explains why some children are born with "old souls" while others seem forever childish. I don´t know really what I believe when it comes to that but it seemed to make sense...I have one child who acts like she has been through life before...she knows what she has to do and she does it...no questions...and then I have another two who act like they aren´t as concerned with what will happen next and are enjoying the moment...young souls perhaps? I don´t know?...I really and truly don´t but I wonder. My curiosity is extremely peeked by this subject. So peeked in fact that I did something yesterday I truly thought I would never do. Something I have actually resisted doing for many years, despite being around people who were constantly seeking the help of professional mediums...I would listen to what they would say, nod my head in amazement at the stories they told while thinking, "are these people serious? This is ridiculous!" While at the same time there was a voice in my head, somewhere, thinking, "Could this be real?" Is there anyone else here with several voices in their head or am I just lucky? 


Anyhoot, yesterday I had my first conversation with a medium....who spoke to my Mother...or was it my Mother who spoke to him? Not quite sure how it all worked...and the anticipation I had up to our conversation was like waiting to visit the dentist, not knowing if it would be a good experience or a bad one. Simon Milton-Jones is from England and is now living in Norway, married to a Norwegian. An expat like myself who claims to be losing his grip on the English language just as I feel I am also...we had a good laugh about that...how crappy our English is becoming....then it hit me how shameful that fact actually is...shouldn´t be laughing about that...but it was great to relate that experience to someone who understood. 


Our session began and my Mother came to Simon, apparently accompanied by a man whom we couldn´t exactly establish who this man was, but concluded that he was just someone helping to guide my Mom to Simon since this was her first time...you see...you never stop having to learn things...even in death! I think I expected Simon to come with a bunch of facts, a bunch of things he MIGHT have been able to nab off google if he searched hard enough...that is the skeptic in me, trying to figure out a way to explain what I was going to hear. However, the majority of things he shared with me were based on feelings, feelings you couldn´t have found through google. Information which he couldn´t have found no matter how hard he searched and I found myself thinking...."Holy crap...is this really happening? Did he just say what I think he said, which sounds SO MUCH like something Mom would have said or felt?" I kept trying to stay skeptic and when he would say something that wasn´t quite on the money I´d think, "Ahh ha....you are so wrong!" Then as if he could read my thoughts he would say something that was spot on and I was back to thinking..."Holy crap, he just did it again!" In between my conversation with Mom, Simon and I had a fun chat and laughed a bunch. I felt so giddy after we were done...kinda like you feel when the dentist appointment went really really well and you´re so relieved and can finally relax and enjoy the moment. I felt so good. I didn´t cry once...because things he told me brought back such happy thoughts about my Mom. It was fun to remember her in the various things he was saying and it was comforting to think maybe she really is still with me even though she isn´t physically with me. 

My Mother use to love talking about death with me, probably to demonstrate that the thought didn´t scare her. I would always complain that I didn´t like the finalization of death. Of never being able to talk to her again. She would always respond by saying that she spoke daily with her Father and Grandmother and I would say, "yeah but Mom it´s not the same...they can´t answer you!" Still, she found comfort in her belief...in her faith. I was still doubtful. However, after yesterday...while I am still trying to find some explanation for what happened, I truly believe something happened. I believe my Mom was communicating with me in some way that I find incredibly hard to explain. I just feel like saying you have to experience it yourself and many of us are like that...incredibly disbelieving and stubborn until we experience it ourselves and then some of us suddenly feel ALL KNOWING...but we won´t get into that right now! ;-) I wouldn´t say I am all knowing and I still feel unsure about what I truly believe but in that moment...that conversation, I had no doubts of what I was experiencing. That is about as good as I can explain it. 


So what do you believe in? What faith do you honor and how did you know it was the right thing to believe in? I think perhaps there are so many different faiths because we are so many different people in the world. That ultimately we all believe something happens but because we are so different our faiths have all become different in order to satisfy our differences and make us all feel that we have something we can believe in? I´m simply making an observation and could be totally off base here but it is an interesting thought don´t ya think?


The freezer challenge is still going, just been incredibly bad about taking photos and sharing the recipes...but will try and get better...sometimes it just doesn´t sound that exciting to write about pasta and meat sauce...I mean...really....zzzzzzzz....I´ve got tons of baking to do this week as I am attending a Christmas market on Saturday where I´ll be selling my baked goods for the first time. I hate baked goods from the freezer and feel there is a taste difference between JUST baked and baked and frozen...never the less I don´t have a lot of choice in the matter, some things will simply have to be baked and frozen or I´ll be doing nothing on Friday but baking until I have to go to my stand on Saturday and that just wouldn´t be good. I´ll post some photos of my baked goods as soon as I can....in the meantime, keep the faith!


Until next time my friends....

Oops...I Ate Dinner And Forgot To Take Pictures!

My freezer challenge was on again today and we had the kebab meat (basically pork meat) that I had taken out of my freezer the other day along with iceberg salad, tomatoes, corn nibblets, onion, cucumber, and pita bread. It was so good....so good I forgot to take photos...I ate the whole thing and as the last bite was heading for my mouth I thought...OH SHIT....I was suppose to take photos of this!!! So.....please forgive me! Instead of photos of dinner tonight I´ll share with you a video from a song I love, sung by a Norwegian artist called Bernhoft (Jarle Bernhoft). Bernhoft was even on the ELLEN show! He is amazing and I love his soulful voice! This song is called Stay With Me...it´s gorgeous...

Take a listen and let me know what you think of him...but beware...this song will put you in a romantic mood...which isn´t good when you´re in Norway and your honey is in Brazil.....or where ever you are and your honey is ;-)


I bought a new plastic Christmas tree today and some decorations so tomorrow we´ll clean house and decorate. I have several days off and I need to use them wisely but I´m not very good at using my time wisely. I usually think I have so much time off and I´ll just rest today and get to things tomorrow and then nothing happens today or tomorrow! But I have to get better...I HAVE TOO! I am tired right now though...I feel it all over me..my eyes sting trying to stay open and I feel light headed...I´m not sick but exhausted...soon I´ll spend the weekend with my honey in Paris and celebrate our birthdays together, we´ll come home and have a wonderful Christmas holiday and I´ll be able to have time to relax and recharge. Right now though it feels like time is flying....anyone else feel that way? 


Have a great Friday everyone!
Until next time my friends....

A Break In My Challenge And A Turkey On My Plate...

Ok, tonight and tonight only I´ve taken a break from my challenge. It is after all Thanksgiving and while I was at the workshop for my job today I kept thinking about my family and friends in the states sitting down to a nice turkey meal with all the sides and deserts and while I was sad that I couldn´t be with them I was also thinking about how bad I am to take care of the traditions I´ve grown up with...just because I live in Norway. How in the world could I possibly have considered making kebab tonight instead of turkey? What was I thinking? 


So after dinner I went to the store to find a turkey breast but found none that were not frozen. I did however find some turkey filets so I bought those. I had potatoes at home and brussel sprouts so I got a few things to make some stuffing or is it dressing? What is the difference between stuffing and dressing? Can anyone please explain that too me? Anyhoot...I had a can of pumpkin and well..before you knew it my Thanksgiving dinner at the last minute came about perfectly. While we made dinner Sarah had the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade on live through earthcam.com! It was great and seeing Santa at the end of the parade signaled, as it has all the years I´ve watched this parade, that Christmas had finally begun...

Below you can see photos from our last minute Thanksgiving day dinner...

You can find the recipe for these brussel sprouts HERE. It´s super easy and super yummy!

For the stuffing, I chopped up a quarter of an onion, 2 stalks of celery, and 1.5 mushrooms and sauteed these in margarine in a frying pan. Added the last of my Roman Italian sausage chopped as well and then mixed this with my bread which Julia cubed for me. I added about 1.5 cups of chicken broth- just until everything was moistened and since I couldn´t find poultry seasoning and I didn´t have all the spices I needed to make my own poultery seasoning, I seasoned with garlic pepper, rosemary, and thyme, and onion salt. Bake at about 180C(375F) for about 30 minutes covered and then ten minutes without a cover. This could have probably stayed a little longer in the oven but we were hungry ;-)

We even managed to make Thanksgiving´s classic desert, pumpkin pie! Sarah made the pie crust and I added the pumpkin fill. I had a can of pumpkin mix which I just had to add evaporated milk too and 2 eggs then bake....voila...however, this Thanksgiving classic was met with mixed reviews by my darling children....

The kids did think that if there was enough cream on the pie then it was edible....they took it to the extreme...don´t ya think?

After dinner it was time to unbutton our pants and kick back and relax.......some of us didn´t have pants to unbutton but we kicked back and relaxed never the less...

Tomorrow my freezer challenge is back on..and since we didn´t have kebab tonight guess what we are having tomorrow ;-)


I want to wish all my friends and family and all of the people who visit my blog a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even if this holiday isn´t in your country...there is no reason not to give thanks in this day and age...we all have so many things we could be thankful for and there is nothing wrong with promoting this thankful feeling one day a year(at least)! So be happy and be thankful!!!


Until next time my friends....

Pasta Carbonara- Eventyrhus Style!

For my third night in my freezer challenge I decided to take out some bacon I had in the freezer, some pasta from the cabinet, and make pasta carbonara. I didn´t use a recipe but put it together like this:


I cooked up 1 kilo of pasta in salted water. In another pan I had chopped fresh broccoli which I steamed. In another pan I fried up about a quarter of an onion and 2 cloves of garlic in a little olive oil. I also fried up the package of bacon (about 6 slices) which I had cut into bite size pieces. I also found a little Italian sausage left from our trip to Rome which I thought could be wonderful in this dish...so I cut up about 5 slices of this into bite size pieces and put this aside. (Do not cook this).

 The pasta is done cooking when it´s al dente. What is al dente? Something between mushy pasta and chewy pasta. You just have to test your way forth to what you will consider al dente. I put in about 50 grams of butter, the onions and garlic, one slightly beaten egg, and then some of the cheeses I bought in Italy....first Pecorini Cheese...similar to Parmesean but a little stronger taste...yum...

Then we will have to have a little parmesean cheese...

Mix this completely with the pasta and add about 3-4 tablespoons of whole cream (yeah, this isn´t a diet dish in case you haven´t already noticed that)..I don´t measure, I just pour in enough to get a somewhat creamy texture- not soupy but slightly creamy. Add the bacon and Italian sausage- mix and finally the broccoli. Season with garlic pepper and voila...Pasta Carbonara Eventyrhus!! 

YUMMY YUMMY!!! 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA. However, there is no turkey thawing in my fridge. There are no fresh baked pies in there either. I won´t be making homemade mashed potatoes or decorating a beautiful table and expecting family and friends to join me around it. No, tomorrow I´ll be attending yet another workshop for the project at work I´ve told you about  The Incredible Years or De Utrolige Årene in Norwegian. I love those workshops but there is something about knowing across the ocean my family will be gathering together in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Texas and eating a huge feast and giving thanks and I will be at work..in Norway and dinner tomorrow....I´ve taken out kebab meat...yeah...not exactly turkey but will have to do after a work day. 

I´m hoping to catch the Macy´s Day Parade online here, after work tomorrow. I have watched this parade every Thanksgiving my whole life until I moved to Norway and then someone shared a link with me a year or two ago and I was able to finally watch it again. The end of the parade when Santa comes always signaled the beginning of Christmas and the weekend after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas. Despite the lack of Thanksgiving dinner, I´ll still have the parade and I´ll still decorate for Christmas this weekend...and who knows...maybe I´ll even bake a pie this weekend in honor of Thanksgiving? If the Captain was here I´d make a pecan pie...his favourite...maybe I´ll make one anyways and think of him like I always do <3

I wish all my American friends and family the very best Thanksgiving...think of me when you´re eating your turkey, stuffing, cranberry salad, dinner rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes and countless pies and cakes and giving thanks for the loved ones in your life... I know I´ll be thinking of you!

Until next time my friends...

Freezer Challenge Tuesday Night Dinner :-)

Tonight I decided to do something with breasts....Chicken breasts that is! I gathered a little inspiration HERE. Although I only had 6 cherry tomatoes in the house and didn´t feel like buying another basil plant only to have it wilt into a black dying mess after a couple days- if anyone knows how to keep the basil plant alive let me know, I´d love to have fresh basil but every time I buy one from the store it only lasts a few days. So instead of Chicken Breasts Caprese we will call these Chicken Breasts Eventyrhus....I was going to write Amy but don´t want to seem conceited ;-) hehehehe....


So here is what I did:


I started by frying up some red and yellow pepper in olive oil until they got a nice well done look to them...kinda like this....

Next, take your chicken breast and place some plastic wrap over the breast and then beat the crap out of it....ok....that´s a bit much isn´t it? But bang it flat with a cleaver or a rolling pin (I used the rolling pin) until it´s flat like a pancake. In the center put one piece of prosciutto a couple slices of fresh mozzerella cheese, and your peppers....kinda like this.....

Roll this baby up and lay her gently on an oiled frying pan bun. If you have toothpicks (I didn´t) then secure your chicken package with those...mine did fine by themselves!

Brush some of the best balsamic vinegar you have over the top of these and shake on a little pepper and salt. I used garlic pepper and fine sea salt. Below is the balsamic vinegar I used..

To be really honest, I didn´t pay attention to how long I cooked these...I just looked at the color on the outside and when I saw the juices running clear I took them off and plated them up with some jasmine rice and garlic roasted asparagus- YUM!!!

It´s amazing how easy this challenge is going...who would have known I had so many yummy things in the freezer? I probably knew but forgot...hehehehe....Ok, tomorrow I´m working so the challenge will be finding something quick and easy and yummy- wish me luck!


Until next time my friends....

Freezer Challenge Monday Dinner

Tonight I took out some ground pork from the freezer and fried it up in a pan. Dinner tonight would be taco pizza, my own recipe! :-) 


I thought I had some taco spice package here at the house but when I found out I didn´t, there was only one thing to do, make one from scratch with the following recipe, click HERE. To this I added some plain tomato sauce I bought once upon a time when I visited my favourite foreign store in Hamar. I put this on my pizza dough which I made with about 10 grams of fresh yeast, 4 dl warm water, 3 tbsp olive oil, and about 1kg flour- oh and 1 tbsp salt. Sprinkled on some corn which I admit I bought tonight...I know was going to use what I had in the house but I didn´t have any corn and the main point of the challenge is to use the majority of ingredients from my freezer and fridge- which I am doing! :-)

I topped this with a mild cheese (Norvegia cheese here in Norway) some onion and red and yellow pepper and then topped it with chili corn chips- which I admit I also bought tonight..

Now this pizza was child friendly, but feel free to load it up with whatever you would put on a taco, guacamole, jalapenos, you name it- be adventurous! 
I baked this at 200C/400F for about 20 minutes. 

Serve this with some garlic dressing which if you can´t buy it you can easily make with some garlic (dried- you could also use garlic pepper and that would be great) and sour cream! 

A pretty tasty start to my freezer challenge if I do say so myself! Tomorrow I am eyeing some chicken in my freezer so stay tuned for day two in my freezer challenge! 


Until next time my friends!! 

The Great Freezer Challenge!

The smarty pants here in the house seem to have this idea that I am pretty bad about using up things before I go out and buy more...and they aren´t that subtle about letting me know how they feel either...eh hem....


Now, I will admit that I do buy more then I need and seldom go to the store because my cupboards are bare. This comes from the early days in my marriage where we had NO money...I mean NADA...NUTTIN, INGENTING TING-E-LING! I use to watch the grocery store advertisements come in the mail with great sales; Everything 10 kroner! Buy one get one free! Yet, I couldn´t take advantage of those sales because we had nothing. I don´t regret being poor at that point. I made the sacrifice to be home with the kids and I don´t regret that but it sure made things really difficult financially. As money got better I would take advantage of those sales...whether I needed things or not...just because they were on sale and I could afford it. 


When we moved to our present home, one of the perks was a big walk in fridge with enough room for two families monthly groceries. This is very nice obviously, especially when you are planning for some big occasion that you have all this space, it´s a luxury! However, food gets lost in there....


I´m serious, it goes in...and then it gets forgotten or it gets shoved to the back of the shelves, or hidden under new stuff that comes in....and when you finally grab yourself and say TODAY we will clean out the fridge, you discover all these lovely food items that have gone out of date, turned green, or grown fur...it´s really quite embarrassing to admit this. I´m by no means well to do and I don´t have money to just throw away like that but it´s a bad habit that I don´t usually think about until it´s too late. I also get terribly ashamed every time I read about starving children in Africa. I think they´d probably give anything to spend a day in my fridge and when I end up throwing out food I get so angry with myself for being so thoughtless. 


However, I want to put myself through a challenge now. For an entire week I will attempt to prepare meals using what I have in my freezer and my fridge. I´ll have to buy some more milk through the week because my children drink milk like it´s water...at least the two youngest do. So while we should have a cow permanently stationed in that giant fridge in order to satisfy them, buying the 1.75 liter jugs, which is the biggest milk jugs we can get here in Norway, will have to do. However, otherwise I will challenge myself to use what we have here in order to make our dinners for the next week. Of course I´ll post what I make....maybe we can both learn something this week? I am of course a little leary about making this challenge because I am expecting a busy week and so I´ll have to plan ahead- not really a quality of mine- but I will have to learn! So to start us off, I´m going to share with you the last two meals I have made here...


The first was coconut shrimp. 

Now this was ALMOST as guiltless as the recipe calls for...however, toward the end of the baking in the oven I thought it looked a little dry. So I drizzled one of my many olive oils over ever so lightly and the results was as you see above. I sereved this with pasta and a salad. YUMMY!!!


Sticking with the seafood theme, tonight I made a delicious creamy fish soup This recipe is only in Norwegian so if you don´t have a translation program that works let me know and I will send you the recipe in English :-) I made a few adjustments to this though, when I made the broth, I increased it with almost a half a liter. So this made about 1.2 liters of soup. I also used parsley flakes instead of Kjørvel which when I looked up the translation for this word, I found chervil...which I still had no idea what that was, so I looked up the word and this word chervil is a herb in the parsley family. So I figured I was good if I used parsley. I also used a half a regular onion vs. the leek (purre) and I added one boat of fresh garlic. YUMMY....I also used cod fish and salmon fish and shrimp in this. I was going to make a yummy homemade bread to go with this but I am at the end of the week and totally in a recharge my battery mode which means doing NADA today so I am ready for the week ahead of me. So I grabbed some garlic bread we had in the freezer! (Good girl Amy!!) This soup was fabulous and hit the spot on this grey and drizzly day...

Not sure what we will have tomorrow? Think I´ll have to take a look in the freezer and see what I can find. Stay tuned folks and have all your questions answered; Can she do it? What will she be making? Will it taste good? Will she have enough food in her freezer and fridge so she won´t have to shop for a whole week? Will she be able to last longer then a week? Will the kids like what she makes?....All these questions and some hopefully interesting recipes will be heading your way in the days to come....so hang in there...In the meantime, tell me- are you good about using up all the food in your fridge or freezer before you buy more? What is the scariest thing you´ve found lurking in your fridge or freezer that you totally forgot about???? Leave your answers in the comment form below! 


Until next time my friends.....

Cookie Crazy!!

I´ve got a problem. A Cookie problem. Look....

Do you understand my problem? DO YOU??? I mean, when I got a little dog, I told myself she was going to be a regular dog...I wasn´t going to spoil her, treat her any differently then my other dogs...no matter the size...but look at her...

It´s her fault...she´s so freaking cute, I´m helpless. I can´t even get mad at her even though she is the naughtiest little pup I´ve ever owned. She chews on everything, she finds things on my floor I never thought existed- and insists on chewing them and not giving them to me, and when she barks at the big dogs I can´t bring myself to tell her no, even though I know I should...and sometimes I can mutter a little, "No no little Cookie bumpkin...don´t do that!" I´m really giggling at how incredibly cute it is to see this pint size puppy take on my giant lion dogs...Cookie´s insistence that she WILL be friends with the big dogs, despite Nanna´s grumbles to stay away, get me all gooey inside.....I need help!!! 


And there´s more....look what I´ve bought so far for her...

Alright, in my defence...I was told by her breeder I couldn´t leave her alone the first months...so what am I suppose to do? Not do anything the first months because I have to be with her? Or find a way to take her with me....ok....so I chose option number 2 and got the incredibly cute (according to my teenage daughter) doggy bag you see above. I´m also not suppose to take her on long walks in the beginning...however, I have five other dogs who would very much like a long walk...and I can´t leave Cookie...so what to do? Yeah, you get a doggy backpack like the one shown above the doggy purse...that way when she gets tired you plop her in there and keep on going...win win for everyone! UGH....but there´s more...

Clothing....I got her clothing....WHAT??? Why are you guys looking at me that way, she was cold....shivering actually, the other morning when I took her out to go potty after she had slept a whole night! (which she has done every night since I got her- lucky me!) I mean, shall I just let her freeze??? No, I think not....and this is Norway, it´s dark in the winter...very dark...almost all day long...she needed a reflex vest like the big doggies...so what do you think? Am I hopeless? Am I doomed? I feel like everything is out of control and all the things I promised myself I wouldn´t do I´m doing...but I feel like many of these things are justified, it´s not because I want to be a Gucci Mamma....really, I don´t...completely want to be a Gucci Mamma,  maybe a little less country bumpkin but never a complete Gucci Mamma..;-)


Yesterday I was having some ladies over for a Tupperware party and so I was making food and Cookie was chillin´...

She can chill just about anywhere as you can see....isn´t that just sooo cute??? Ok ok, the food...I know the usual fare at tupperware parties is cakes...but this is me you´re talking too...it´s not every day I have visitors so when I first get  a visit I have to go all out, especially if I have warning someone is coming! So I cooked up a yummy batch of CORN CHOWDER. I did mine slightly different as I didn´t have any onion in the house (I know, what the heck?? Isn´t that weird? Me with no onions in the house?? HUH??) Anyhoot...I did have some shallot onions, so I used about 12 of those. I also added some garlic because....well....ya just gotta have garlic...I used about 3 cloves finely chopped. The rest I pretty much followed and I actually bought fresh basil to put on top of the soup and then totally forgot when I served the soup...ugh!!! So mine looked like this...but if you remember the basil then yours can look like Sweet Pea´s....

I let this baby sit all day long on a low heat and as with any soup that is allowed to marinate for several hours...the flavors just became better and better. This is a simple, warm, and delicious soup for those cold winter days when you need something warm and filling in your stomach...I even think you could get small children to eat this as there isn´t anything really "weird" in it- bacon, potatoes, onion, and corn....how simple can life get???


Then we had to have some cakes or it wouldn´t be tupperware, right? So I went with a Brown Buttered Brownie...

Julia asked me if I used dark chocolate in these as she felt the taste was really strong and she didn´t like dark chocolate (you see it´s not just Cookie who is spoiled in this house)...the strong flavor probably comes from the browned butter which will give it a little more nutty flavor and there is a teaspoon of espresso powder in there...but I thought they were really good and am glad I don´t have to share that many with the kids...hahahaha...of course that´s not good news for my arse, I´m usually quite happy when my children devour whatever I bake so there is less for me...but once in awhile it´s ok to have the whole bunch for myself!! :-) I got that fancy doggy backpack now...I´ll grab Cookie and a couple leos and we´ll walk off these delicious little morsels....


I also made a yummy cheesecake I´ve made before...the Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars. 

Unfortunately or shall I say fortunately (for me) my kids are crazy about this one...so I don´t have to worry about finishing this one off...*puh*.....this time though instead of making my own caramel sauce, which you can do....I bought some and it worked just fine. 


Cookie was a sweet girl and slept pretty much the entire time I was making food....

UGH....look at that cuteness...you´re weak too aren´t you? She has that power over everyone I think....and you think this is cute, you should see her run....ugh, if only I could run like Cookie, I wouldn´t have to cook food to get people to like me...they´d just be like..."Oh Amy, skip the cheesecake...just run for us girl...it´s so cute!" But nooooo.....so I guess I´ll stick to what works for me and Cookie can stick to what works for her and I´ll just have to accept that I´m doomed to spoil this baby...maybe I can try and balance it a little with sensibility and a little spoiling?? That might work? Ugh...who am I kidding??? I´m Cookie Crazy...ugh!!!


Have a wonderful Saturday everyone! Until next time my friends....

I Am Not Even Shocked Anymore But I´m Greatly Saddened

We are creating a world which is becoming indifferent to things which years ago would have shocked us completely. Some people reading this might say that what I am about to show you isn´t shocking to them and never has been, it was part of their upbringing, what made them decent law abiding respectful people- but did it really?

What I want to show you is this:

This was in the newspapers here in Norway today. Dagbladet writes that county judge William Adams beat his then 16 year old daughter with a belt for downloading games and music from the internet. In the video, which is quite disturbing, it´s obvious this girl has placed a camera where she can capture everything that happens without her parents knowing. Both parents beat their daughter in the video and threaten her verbally. This is a judge who has handled several family abuse cases over the years.

I don´t know what is more disturbing to me, the fact that this girl filmed this, put it out on the net not right away but several years later after what sounds like yet another family argument for these people and the daughter now 23 finally decides to take revenge on her parents by posting this video. Another disturbing obvious fact is that these parents whose job it is to protect and nourish their child are beating her and threatening her which makes me wonder what do they think they taught her? Finally, if you go to the you tube video and watch this and then read the comments under, the mind set of some people is terrifying.

Now while I agree that many kids these days have lost respect for....so many things, not just their elders but so many things including themselves...is this because they aren´t beaten anymore or could it be because they are left to themselves, more now then ever before? I respect the fact that in this day and age most families must have both parents working and single families are facing the challenges they always have by having no choice as to whether the parent would be at home or out working, but there use to be whole families who would raise kids...loving neighbours who were home, kids weren´t left on their own like they are today. In our quest to have EVERYTHING and to have it with minimal investment on our own parts, children are being terribly affected by this ever growing trend. We want the kids but have no time to invest in them. We want Things and Things take precedence over teaching our children right from wrong, teaching our kids about love and caring, and respect and so many other important life qualities such as...dare I say it, common sense? ;-)

I can hear many of you squawking that I´m generalizing and that not everyone is like this and you´re completely right. There are exceptions to anything. That is why even those children who weren´t beaten growing up became decent law abiding people, that is why there are loving and caring kids today even with both parents working and no immediate family around. There are exceptions and THANK goodness for that! However, the trend is clear..the facts are clear...things aren´t getting better in our society, they are getting worse in general and we have to ask ourselves why and really take a moment to think about it and be honest about it. I´m not about to give you parenting advice or family advice, I´m struggling every day to make the right choices for myself and my family and I´m by far a perfect parent/human. However, I don´t think it´s right to hit anyone...I don´t think violence solves anything and unfortunately talking doesn´t always solve things either. Sometimes we just can´t see eye to eye about things and we have choices....I believe in choices. We all have them. We can choose to act upon our feelings, we can choose to talk about our feelings, we can choose to walk away from our feelings...it´s our choice. Animals often act upon instinct...they don´t stop up and think, "hmmm, I can either eat this antelope or wait for a juicy water buffalo instead" or "I´m going to chase this cat....or I could just let him pass by without bother"....animals DO.....but we humans....we can CHOOSE.

I get so angry when people tell me that they can´t change things because this is how they have been all their life or this is just how it is or some other excuse...we humans are full of excuses! We all have choices to change things we don´t like. Maybe we can´t change the world, but we can change the things around and in our own lives if we really want too. Unfortunately though, change takes effort which isn´t something people are willing to invest much of anymore...so the bottom line is...change, choices, they all come down to each individual, what you´re willing to do, what you´re willing to invest, what is really really important to you.

*Deep breath* puh...sorry for the deep subject today folks. It´s not often I get on my soap box and give a lecture but sometimes my pot of what I can handle in life gets full and I have to pour out some things so I don´t cook over...and this was one of those situations. Don´t worry...I´m still a happy go lucky gal who tries her best to be postiive 99% of the time. In fact, I´m positive this will be a great weekend, tomorrow we will pick up Cookie. Isn´t she just so scrumptious you want to eat her up???

I´ve promised Cookie´s breeder some cookies when we come to pick her up tomorrow...I just thought, I can´t pick up my Sugar Cookie without bringing cookies- that is after all what she is being named after...one of my most favourite hobbies, cookie baking! So today I´m making snickerdoodles and some double chocolate cookies to take with us tomorrow. 


Our weather has been so grey and wet these last weeks that I find my mind wandering back to our family vacation in Rome...the warm days and nights, the sunshine on my skin...I love Norway but I´m finding the crappy weather harder and harder to deal with..but I keep trying..I mean, there has to be positives with weeks and weeks of rain and grey skies right?? Something...anyone think of anything???? No.....yup, I can´t think of anything right now either, but sure there is something!! 


Have a great weekend everyone! Until next time....