A Different Lasagna And A Homecoming

So this has been a wild few days and I thought I´d wind down tonight by bringing you a new post. It´s been awhile and so here I am and tonight I have some goodies for you. 

First of all I made this recipe HERE for dinner tonight. However, I made it a little more mine by adding salmon. The original recipe is meat free so if you´re looking for a semi vegetarian dish this could work, there is cheese in here, but otherwise meat free. The salmon was really nice and this dish was really good. It wasn´t great, it wasn´t WOW...but it was good. It was different but we all agreed it was good! 

My family has complained that I haven´t been baking like I use too, which is true. I have really taken a huge break and yeah I miss it and I know they miss it but I´m working on this new lifestyle so I´ve been trying to be good. However, this past weekend, life got crazy and I decided we all needed a treat....and I have been wanting to check out this recipe HERE. I would have taken photos of the ones I made but they didn´t last long enough for me to find my camera.....so you´ll have to deal with the photo from the recipe...looks yummy huh? 

This is like taking rice krispie treats to a new level....here you have white chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate chips (or dronning sjokolade is what I used here in Norway) and mini marshmallows.....YUM...and yeah, like I said, these didn´t last long and my children thankfully ate the majority of them. :-)

As I mentioned the last few days have been crazy. We´ve been going round and round with our co-owner of our Leonberger female, Birdy. They live between 8-9 hours away from us (one way) which was mistake number one and a mistake I´ve really regretted pretty much since we sent her. However, my feeling at the time we let her go was that she would have a great life on this couple´s farm, she would be the only dog, get all the attention and everything would be great. The couple promised me loads of photos since we lived so far away and I did get a few in the beginning and less and less as time went on. They claimed they weren´t good at taking photos or putting them on the internet but they assured us she was doing great and the few photos we did get, she looked good. However, early this spring the couple separated and the woman, who we had gotten the impression did the most with Birdy, left the farm and moved into an apartment and couldn´t have Birdy with her. She sent us some mails in the beginning of her separation and assured us Birdy was doing fine and we asked for photos, which we never got. After awhile of trying to get photos from the ex-wife, we were told she could no longer be the middle man for us and if we wanted any information on Birdy we had to contact her ex-husband. So we did....several times. He always had excuses that his ex-wife had taken the camera and computer so he had nothing to take or send photos with. Once he told the Captain that his ex was coming over for dinner and he would have her take photos. We never got anything...so when the Captain came home from sea he called again and the man again acted shocked his ex hadn´t sent photos and said again that he had nothing to take photos with. The Captain asked him if he had a camera on his phone to which he said yes...so the Captain asked him to take photos with his phone. "Yeah, on the next nice weather day" he would....the Captain said no, he wanted photos as soon as possible. He gave this guy my number but I didn´t get anything. I sent a message saying we wanted photos of her head and her body by the next day. I got no response to my text message, so tired of playing this game with him, I contacted the Norwegian animal welfare office near where the man lived. I told them my concerns and they sent someone out to check on Birdy the same day. We were sent the following photos:

I spoke with the man who had gone out to see her and he said that she was VERY thin and her hair was scruffy but in their opinion not a case they were going to do anything more with but I could look at the photos and decide myself what I wanted to do. Birdy has always been an elegant Leonberger, never a powerfully built female but she was incredibly skinny and when we saw her feet you could see she hadn´t been groomed in a long while. Those fluffy hairs between the toes don´t grow overnight and if they looked like that, what were her nails like? 

The Captain contacted the man who had Birdy and he was upset we had contacted the welfare organization. He felt it was for people who abused their animals and he didn´t feel that defined him. He loved Birdy and enjoyed her company. The Captain told him he needed to have her groomed and send us new photos by Monday but before he could continue the man said NO. He wanted to return Birdy, he thought we were too demanding when it came to photos!! This was the only request we had of them the entire time they had Birdy and they knew it when they took her that we wanted regular photos to see how she was since they lived so far away. As the Captain said, he didn´t really want her anymore when he was willing to give her back over photos! So on Friday the Captain and Julia drove to pick Birdy up and when they got her the Captain called me and told me she was the skinniest he had ever seen her and we had done the right thing getting her. 

There has never been any doubt we needed to get her home, but it´s going to be a challenge having her here. The reason she left in the first place was because she and our other female, Isabella, who are only three months apart in age, do not like each other. They are both dominant females and would like to be Queen in the house. Now that they have both been Queen in their respective homes for the last 2 years, we will have quite the work cut out for us getting Birdy back into our gang but our hope is to have it like it was before she left, where they all managed to be together in the same room as long as we were there. We just couldn´t leave them alone together. So we hope to get back there, slowly but surely. No matter what, we will more then likely keep Birdy here. She is 6.5 years old and I´m too afraid to chance her happiness by setting her in another co-owner home and risk that I make a mistake again. People will say and do anything to get a "free" dog and I am too trusting. 

Here are some photos I took this afternoon as we were grooming Birdy...they aren´t that good as she moved a lot..but it gives you an idea. Below those photos I´ll post a photo of how she was before she left us.

Birdy today November 18, 2012

Birdy in 2009 and 2010. 

This is by no means an ideal situation but part of being a responsible dog owner is owning up to your responsibility as long as you own the dog and we have a responsibility to Birdy and plan on trying to make up this time she has been away, the best we can. We were looking forward to having less BIG dogs and concentrating more on the small dogs in our life but this is the curve ball life has dealt us and we will deal with it the best we can and do our best for all the dogs living here.  The most incredible thing was getting an email today from the ex-wife who I had written too for a week or two ago asking where the photos were she had taken? She wrote tonight (obviously not knowing we had Birdy) giving me MORE excuses why she couldn´t get me photos of Birdy but that she had seen her not too long ago and she was doing just fine so I had no reason to worry!!!! I wrote back and gave her a piece of my mind! I was so angry. I probably should have just ignored her, because people like that will never understand what they have done wrong but I couldn´t help myself...here I was being lied too and I was finally aware of the lies!  I had thought it was just the man who was stringing us along all the time but when the ex-wife wrote this too me tonight, I was so angry because obviously she has been stringing us along as well and she was the one I had trusted the most of the two of them! 

Well, that is an update from the woods of Norway. Thanks for stopping by and visiting my little corner of cyberspace! Hope you´ll come back again!

Until next time my friends...

Livin´ Healthy And Eatin´ Good!

So I thought I´d share with you dinner tonight....or some of dinner...some of the dinner is pre-made. I know it´s a big no no to buy already pre-made food, but in a hurry sometimes it´s ok. We´re doing fish cakes which we bought at the store. Quality fish cakes with over 60% fish...100% would be ideal but again- in a hurry, this isn´t a bad option. The family is going to eat their fish cakes like fish burgers, complete with whole grain hamburger buns. However, Mamma is skipping the hamburger buns and doing roasted cabbage and a little quinoa something or another. I´ll share the quinoa idea with you later after I figure out what exactly I´m going to do. That is the beauty with Quinoa, it´s kinda like rice and there isn´t a lot of flavor, so it´s pretty much up to your fantasy what you want to do with it. I found this recipe for roasted cabbage HERE. 

Martha used caraway seeds (Karve frø in Norwegian) but I chose to use a new spice I bought here called rosette garlic and chili and a little sea salt. I´d tell ya how it tasted but it´s in the oven roasting right now...so you´ll get an update with the quinoa recipe next time!

Then my mind started wandering too tomorrow. I have a long day, first work, then my weight loss course. So I won´t be home until 7PM and so I need energy to keep me going all day. I went to my favorite place to look for recipes- PINTEREST....and found this little baby...

So I´m taking this with me for lunch tomorrow...or maybe I´ll do some fish for lunch as I bought some lovely smoked trout that I could do something with...and this for my dinner? Either way, this meal will be consumed by me tomorrow and I´m already drooling! Funny too,  I actually bought some chorizo this afternoon not knowing I would be making this tomorrow....I think it´s destiny! You can find the recipe at this lovely blog HERE. I came to her blog for the brussel sprouts but I have seen loads of yummy low carb/no carb meals in here that will keep me coming back :-)

So when you´ve got a long day at work, what do you pack in your lunch box?

Until next time my friends...

Packaging In Breakfast

I have been ill the past week. I think it´s sinus...I´ve said to people, if I could take my head off I´d be fine....contemplating calling the doctor tomorrow and asking for sinus tablets. If I lived in America I could buy them over the counter. Tylenol Cold and Sinus...how I miss you....but here in Norway I have to go through a doctor first....and too finally get some relief, I´m extremely tempted to do just that and call my doctor tomorrow.

I´ve not exercised once this past week and have been scared to death that I´ve put myself back a couple weeks as far as weight loss goes...which has depressed the heck out of me..I haven´t dared to look at the weight scale and was thinking last night that if I can get back on track today and tomorrow, then maybe my weight wouldn´t be so bad when I go in for my official weigh in Tuesday. However, when I woke this morning the temptation to check my weight couldn´t be resisted and I jumped on the scales...only to find to my shock and delight that I haven´t gone up or down since last Monday! So by some miracle I´m no worse off then I was a week ago and can basically pretend this past week never happened and keep going!!! I´m so happy and relieved by this news! 

Even though I still don´t feel in exercise form, I´m back on track with the food and this morning I decided to try an idea I had seen on the net which was so cute....

However, I wanted more stuff IN my egg mixture....so I fried up some fresh spinach in a little olive oil and garlic pepper. I mixed some eggs, put in a couple tablespoons of low cal cottage cheese, the spinach, cut up red onion...and voila....a healthy yummy egg mixture packaged so nicely!

The only problem I had with this neat little packaging is while I only made 2 eggs a piece for the Captain and I, I couldn´t get all the egg mixture in the red pepper. I probably cut the rings too small and next time could cut them a little thicker and then they could hold more egg mixture but today I just ended up making a little omelet on the side...

Still a healthy yummy breakfast :-)

Christmas is around the corner and every year I feel the same way....I´m excited as heck about the decorating and the family time and I HATE the shopping pressure! If it were any other month, I´d love buying stuff for people but I hate having a specific date that I HAVE to have bought something by or it just isn´t Christmas...maybe this is just my view on this...and some people have managed to get around the shopping pressure at Christmas. If you´re one of them, I´d love to know how you manage to have a great Christmas without the pressure of shopping??

I´m really seriously wanting a tree like this for Christmas this year. I have a plastic tree, which I could place in front of my window and then get a tiny real Christmas tree to place on my roof, right above where my inside tree is....that would be SO FUNNY!!! Nothing like making people smile for the holidays right? I think we do a lot of outside decorating for Christmas, but I´m always hoping to add more each year....

It´s so dark here in the woods during the winter and having the Christmas lights makes the whole forest so much more cozy and warm...this year I´m contemplating if I want to add lights to a tree on our property or the new fence....hehehehe....yes, it will cost an arm and a leg for the electricity bill, but Christmas comes but once a year and it´s so worth it! 

Until next time my friends....

Always And Forever

Today I´ve been home sick from work. Anytime I´m feeling down or sick I miss my Mom extra much. Today has been no different and my Mom has been in my thoughts all day....

My Dad told me that the song in this video was "their" song...but when I hear it I can´t help but think of her...so in a way it´s become "her" song for me....

Until next time my friends....

Keeping It Real

As I mentioned earlier, this new lifestyle is working out pretty good. I think about everything I eat but I don´t get crazy. If you look up on google what you should eat for a healthy lifestyle, one article will say stay away from such and such....while the next article says eat lots of such and such...you can easily go crazy if you try to follow all the advice and scientific studies as to what you should or shouldn´t eat. So I´ve adopted a common sense approach. Using common sense and keeping the portions small. I´ve tried to not eat that many carbs, especially the quick carbs...but I don´t freak out if I do eat some....I just try to limit how much I eat...

Tonight I tried some recipes I found online. The one recipe I only got part of and so I decided to just make up my own....this involved taking 4 chicken breasts and slicing them in strips. Dipping them in flour and then shaking them off....putting them in a baking dish and pouring over a combination of BBQ sauce (your favourite) and a tablespoon of honey. I then added four small butter squares on top. Stuck it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at about 200C (400F) taking it out once to turn it around and drizzle the sauce over the chicken. This was tender and delicious!! 

The other part of dinner was zucchini fries. If you haven´t tried zucchini fries yet, I strongly suggest you give this recipe a try: HERE. I used panko bread crumbs and parmesan cheese and Italian spices...rolled my egg dipped zucchini in the above mixture and then laid them on baking paper on a cookie sheet. Baked them at 200C for about 10 minutes on the bottom rack. My son was extremely anxious about the green stuff...so he only took one when he sat down at the dinner table. However, once he tried it he jumped quickly up and went back for more. :-) I can tell you now there wasn´t a zucchini fry left in the house! Even the Captain had seconds!!!! :-) I served the whole thing with fresh pineapple. 

Still working on getting things working on my computer again, so sharing my Instagram photo with you tonight. Yeah, it was as good as it looks :-)

Today I purchased a pair of spinning shoes or biking shoes. Yeah- I´m that hooked on spinning! Who would have known? Here I was scared to death of the thought of spinning and I actually like it! I was at a class last night and when the instructor was telling us about the various songs and what we would be doing, I stopped a little up when she said we would have one song where we would stand for 6 minutes! I mean 6 minutes doesn´t sound long...but I thought I was gonna die! Thankfully a friend who was taking the class with me saw I was struggling and encouraged me! I promised her someday when I can breathe through those exercises I´ll encourage her back!! hahahahaha...but it was seriously great to hear her tell me to keep going....I did what I could to keep going...even though I admittedly had to sit several times during the 6  minutes I tried to get up as quick as possible...so I was pleased with my effort!! Now with my new snazzy biking shoes I´m sure I´ll do better ;-))) 

Tomorrow I´ll be working late shift, so I am going to have to pack a lunch and a dinner as I´ll have to go straight to my Easylife course right after work. So I´m trying to think what to pack. Any ideas? I´m thinking I might take out another chicken breast and do something with that for dinner and I bought some lovely roast beef which I might try and make some sort of lunch out of...so if you have any ideas for chicken or roast beef let me know :-)

Had to share a photo of my little guard dogs. If you´re friends with me on facebook, I apologize for the repeat photo but it´s too cute not to share....someone said on facebook that it looks like they are waiting on Santa....and Santa will be coming soon...so that could have been a possibility, but actually they are just keeping an eye on things outside...no one passes without them knowing about it!!! 

Until next time my friends....

Silence

 Let me start by saying, life is pretty good these days....my weight is slowly going down, I feel really at peace with the whole process. My biggest challenge is the exercise because....I admit it, I´m lazy. If I could lose weight without the exercise I would do that...but I understand fully it´s a package deal...so I´m doing my best. The food part is easy. I´m having a blast finding healthy things to eat which aren´t just salads! So in this area of my life, things are great!

The Captain also came home recently which is also wonderful! Nothing like absence to make the heart grow fonder and we certainly get enough time apart so fondness is never a problem! Kinda like newlyweds each time we´re together only with the added benefit of the safe feeling of a long time relationship which just gets stronger for every day. 

I can´t get into details but there are areas of my life which are bothering me greatly...areas with which I feel I can´t say anything and yet I want to scream my discontent on the highest mountain....

In some ways these problem areas aren´t really anything I can do about, which makes them even harder to deal with. I´m just having to learn to deal with them and it´s not easy because I disagree with so many aspects of these problem areas and yet don´t feel I have a voice...

I sometimes feel like I´m alone in how I feel, even though I know that many others could probably relate...if only I could speak about my problems...but I can´t....

I´m not trying to be mysterious or make anyone think that I can´t function in my daily life because I have these issues that bother me. I would love to talk about how I´m feeling openly but sometimes by law you can´t publicly give details about certain things..I´m just trying to talk publicly about something that I feel forced to keep silent about...and it often comes out sounding very ominous...

Like many mothers out there, I feel a lot of times like I´m doing everything I can to keep my head above water....

Overwhelmed by all the responsibilities, the endless tasks, the constant dependency it feels the world has upon you...the never feeling you can really think of yourself because you need to be somewhere, do something, be something, help someone....never ending...and yet you can´t complain...it´s how life is...you just have to keep riding the ride....

Sometimes I feel like running away....to places where I don´t know anyone...where I don´t feel any responsibility, where no one expects anything from me because they don´t know me....where no one can find me.....

Of course it´s not realistic, but I often say I understand the beauty of the life of a Gypsy...just wandering, without any roots, without any bonds holding you in one place...like waves on an ocean...constantly moving...and never bound....

Sometimes I wish I could speak my mind. Inside I have a million opinions about things but I keep silent...

I think there are a lot of people out there, who keep silent, rather then open their mouth about things and say how they feel. I don´t think I´m alone in that aspect. But it´s frustrating. All the things you want to speak your opinion about eat you up from the inside...

People say, honesty is the best policy...but do they really mean it? People say they want to hear the truth, that getting things out on the table is best...but is it really? I think people want to hear the truth if it´s rosy sweet and wonderful but not if it´s critical in any way. I hear people say they want to hear the truth no matter what and when they hear it, they smile, go their way and then bitch behind closed doors about what they heard. They didn´t want to hear the truth...they wanted the rosy version of the truth....or just plain silence...

I´ve seen this all too many times to think any differently, even though I constantly live in hope that someday I will be surrounded by people who can handle the truth...even if it´s not packaged in a pink ribbon with sugar on top....

How do you deal with things that bother you, with which you feel you have no power to do anything about? That sits inside you and eat you up from the inside? How do you turn a negative into a positive even if the object you hope to change, never really changes?? 

Until I´ve figured out the answers to those questions, I just enjoy the silence...try and block out what I can´t change or do anything about and appreciate the moment....

I want to ask you to not read this and feel like I´m in dire straights here in the woods...I have stuff on my mind. I have stuff that bothers me. I have stuff I hate but can´t do anything about. I have responsibilities and things I wish I could run away from. Who doesn´t experience any of the above or all? But life goes on, you go on, I go on...we learn how to deal with things sometimes just by going through them. Sometimes there is no answer. Sometimes there is no advice that can help, you just have to experience it and act in the moment...but everything moves forward...whether we like it or not...

I wish you all a wonderful weekend....until next time my friends....
(ps- all the beautiful photos you see in this post are borrowed from the internet. The Captain will get my computer fixed soon so I can start uploading my own photos..until then I´m a borrower..)