A Healthy Start

Here I am!!! Between six dogs and three kids and the Captain in Brazil….my time is so limited. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think of you all every single day and I have tons to catch up on in blog world, but unfortunately I’m still flying. Just thought I’d take a moment to catch you up on where I’m at right now…

I have been given an interview for the job of cook/child worker in the same place I’m working now. The new nursery which is being built will be open in October and they are wanting to hire a cook who can have responsibility for the kitchen but also can work with the kids. My interview is Friday and I’m totally excited about it!!!

How cool to work with children which I ADORE and at the same time work with a passion of mine which is cooking and baking. Not to mention the challenge of making healthy and GOOD food! There are so many challenges to this job that I just love it!

Nurseries/Daycares in Norway are on tight budgets so there is first and foremost the challenge of a budget…eating healthy and good on a budget! I’ve got several ideas up my sleeve for this one and I’ll let you know after my interview, in case someone I know is going for the same job and reads my blog…hehehehe…but I’m totally psyched about this challenge!

I think as an overweight adult it’s important to teach children healthy eating habits from an early age. This way when they are older and face the temptations of unhealthy eating they will have something solid to stand on- a love of healthy food. It’s much worse if you raise a child the opposite way, giving them a love for everything unhealthy and then as the child grows up and realizes they have to take care of themselves and eat healthy they have to start learning at a later age to like things that aren’t junk food and let’s face it folks…junk food is an addiction. So if you begin down that path it’s a tough habit to break- even when you  know it’s not good for you…

I wish children in America had this chance to eat healthier but I think over there you have so much advertising aimed toward kids to entice them to eat junk food and you have a generation or two of family who want the junk food too and are more inclined to not serve their kids something if it means limiting their own intake of this product…this is where I think we have a slight advantage in Norway. While Norwegians enjoy their cakes and ice cream and hot dogs, generally people are healthier in their eating habits here so I think it would be easier to get the parents on board with healthier eating in daycares.

Oh I’m bubbling over with ideas for this job and I’m really excited to get in there and find out what my bosses have in mind with this position and share some of my ideas…they’ve tasted my cooking before but I was thinking I’d maybe make a little something….lunch pack or something to share with them….hey…it might be looked at as brown nosing a little…but if it gets me a permanent job, then I’m all for it! hahahaha….Seriously though, how can you hire a painter if you’ve never seen their work, or right to the point a cook, if you’ve never tasted their work? Now again, my bosses have tasted my food before but in an interview I’d assume it would be ok to let them try it again…based on the fact that we’re to keep our personal relationships out of the interview and be professional and I’d do that for any cook job, let them taste what I can do so they’d know what they are getting…

Cross your fingers and wish me luck ok? Tomorrow I’m off to the vet with Redman to get a health check to exclude any health issues which might be making him behave in a naughty way…then next week I’m taking Birdy to the vet for an ultrasound to see if we’re expecting puppies and then we head to Averøy for my niece’s confirmation and then back again. The following week I’m taking Redman to a behaviour specialist in Drammen to get an “expert” opinion of him…oh and Julia’s still home from school with a bad back…she is getting treatments at the chiropractor but looks like it will be another week at home and they will re-evaluate her next week if she can begin school again.

Oh my goodness, I’m exhausted after just writing all of that….I’ll be back as soon as I can….be well my friends and thanks for hanging in there with me…

Until next time……

Nanna <3

This is Nanna…..Julia suggested we call her Nanna after my mom (that’s what the kids called my mom) so that we would have Nanna with us even after my mom was gone..

She is the furry one on the right…the one who thinks she is small enough to fit on the couch….

She is Swedish- that’s a joke in this house. Nanna is kind of a joke…she is weird….in a very loveable way. She talks and she loves to wash things…

She loves to wash the other dogs, we humans, and even the cats…if she can get close enough…

We often think of the dog in Peter Pan, Nanna, who looked after the children…Nanna likes to look after the kids…

If they get out of control…she kindly pats them on the shoulder and says….”let’s talk…”

With the end of every conversation comes a hug….

And another bath…because Nanna loves to wash you…

She’s a funny girl with a big heart. We sometimes wonder if the lights are on with her but no one is home…she can be a bit……Swedish sometimes….hehehehe…but it’s part of her charm and what makes her our wonderfully sweet Nanna…

Until next time my friends….

McAmy’s Breakfast Biscuit And More Snow :-(

There was a little discussion the other day on facebook about McDonalds and the serving of (or lack of) breakfast in Norway and Denmark. Sweden is the only lucky ducks to get breakfast from McDonalds- go figure…but who needs McDonalds when you have McAmy’s??

Let’s start with some buttery, fluffy, homemade biscuits:

2 Cups Flour

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1/4 tsp Salt

Cut in half cup margarine or butter until everything resembles coarse crumbs..

Make a well in the center and add 2/3 cup of Milk. (Guess what, as I’m reading this recipe I just realized I didn’t use milk yesterday I used water…it worked just fine as you can see..and I didn’t measure the water- just mixed it in until I got a workable dough)

Roll your dough out and use a big cup to cut out big biscuits…bake at 450 F (about 200C) for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

McDonald WHO? Yeah…I know…I think my next project will be to see if I can learn how to make sausage patties because I really love sausage patties but the Norwegians haven’t figured that one out yet….and it might be another five or so years before they get them here..ugh..

Things are slow here in Norway….well, except for the weather…that changes very quickly…you saw the photo of snow I posted yesterday….throughout the day this happened…

By evening everything that had fallen was melted away and you would never have known it snowed throughout the day except that everything was wet…and they say in Texas if you don’t like the weather wait a minute…I think the same could be said for Norway…and we really don’t like this type of weather right now…ugh..

Tried a new recipe last night…Red Lentil Salad

I gotta tell ya though, outside of green beans and maybe some small sweet peas I am not really a bean person but I’ve heard a lot about lentils and their healthy benefits and I figured I’d try this salad as it looked really good in the cookbook.

You use about 300 grams of red lentils- drain these and then put them in water to cook for about 10 minutes- drain again and rinse.

Chop up 2 garlic cloves finely, 1 chili pepper in tiny pieces, and warm up in about 2 TBSP olive oil until lightly browned…add cooked lentils and 2 spring onions finely chopped and mix well. Squeeze over half a lemon and add salt and pepper to taste…

Now my honest opinion….if you like spicy and you like beans you’ll love this…makes a tasty side dish. To me, the beans had NO taste (which is why I really don’t like beans- like eating cardboard..ugh) but the spices in this really give this dish the kick it needs and with some pork chops or something I could probably eat this again- as long as I had something to eat it with…wouldn’t eat it by itself…we had this with leftover pizza and Thomas was putting his no-thank-you helping on top of the pizza to eat it…(I did the same thing). The kids were not crazy about this though but were good and tried it- hence the no-thank-you- helping!! :-))

Until next time my friends…

Boys Will Be Boys

So I took Thomas to get his haircut yesterday and after posting photos of the yard and woods and dog equipment yesterday,  I realized I hadn’t gotten a shot of Thomas’s new haircut so I could post it on my blog and the Captain and my Dad could see it. So I grabbed my camera and disrupted the 12 year old’s TV viewing to ask if I could take a photo….”Thomas, will you smile for me please….”

“No honey, smile and look at mommy…”

“What the heck is that? Come on….please….”

“Having fun with this aren’t you?”

“That is a smile with a twist of evil in it……try again…”

“Honey, you have to look at mommy, not the TV….”

“Oh no, your finger got in the way of that one….ugh…try again…”

“Hello….Earth to Thomas…..mommy is over here sweetheart….”

“Hahaha….very funny….”

“Ohhhh yeah…..that’s a nice one….”

“You’re having a good time with this aren’t you? Ok, please Thomas…..just one normal photo….”

“Honey, I asked for normal- as in human normal, not Thomas normal….”

“Nice….you’re makin’ mamma proud…..Come on you crazy goon….give me one normal picture PLEASE!”

“Oh no, that one was blurry…..and you didn’t have your eyes open….one more please???”

“Oh Lord……..THOMAS!!!!”

“Glad you’re having fun with this my darling….but think if some cute 12 year old looks at this….don’t you want her to see you lookin’ all handsome??”

“Right…..you’re such a lady’s man……now can we just have one normal smiley photo and we’re done…”

“Well, now…..this was ok, but your mouth looks like you’re trying to say something rather then smile….one more….ok?”

“Over here Buddy…..”

“NO THOMAS!!!!”

“Ok, I give up….you evil little monkey! Your dad will understand these photos and how hard I’ve worked to try and get a decent photo- Enjoy Stig!”

And my dear followers…….look what I woke up to this morning….

SNOW! The sun does not look like she is going to join us today and melt this either!!!! Grrrrrr…..I think I’m going back to bed…..

Have a great Sunday everyone…..until next time….

Spring, She Is A Comin’…..

Yes folks, spring, she is a comin’ to Norway! Hurray for that! There is a constant trickling sound of water dripping as the remaining snow melts around the property and it’s a great sound!

Started my day today with two long walks with five leonbergers…Sarah and I took them in two groups, Nanna and Redman first then Bently and Isabella and Birdy last. Jenny got to play in the yard and do some tricks today. Came home and had my breakfast of choice these days…I’ve gotten hooked on this rug bread. (which is a rye bread from Denmark) The smell is horrid but when you get past that the taste grows on you and you’re not hungry for a long while after this breakfast so I’ve been hooked on these little smelly breads lately. What do I have on it you ask? That is creamy cheeses with shrimp flavour…and cucumber..not your typical American breakfast but it’s good and healthy :-)

Ran Thomas to Stavsjø to get his hair cut, our hairstylist had moved locations and built up a new salon and people have been saying the prices had gone up some, but we paid 100 Norwegian Kroner for Thomas’s hair cut and I was pleased. I told her I’d be back in May to get my hair coloured but had too many dog expenses this month. She was so nice and told me I could get my hair done now and pay later if I wanted….gotta love living in the country!! :-)) I thanked her for the offer but told her I’d be back in the beginning of May and pay for my hair to get done!

Came home and took a look around the property…

With the snow melting the gardens are coming forth and oi oi oi all the work there is to do there! Not sure where to begin? Feel like just ripping everything out of there and letting whatever remains grow up again but think I might lose quite a lot of nice plants if I did that, so I’ll have my work cut out for me there. The yard is burned by the snow and ice and so I’ll ask at my local farm shop what I can do about that. I was noticing the front door is all scraped up from Heidi and all the times she jumped on the door to come in…now that she is gone I guess we can safely paint it without fear of it getting all scraped up again…

I’ve also been noticing all the dog poop coming forth now that the snow has melted…ugh, gross…going to probably have several wheel barrel loads of that crap (no pun intended) to carry away…ugh…

I’d like to ask the farmer (or rather have Stig ask the farmer…hehehe) if we can buy this property behind our dog pens and then fence it all in for the dogs. It’s a nice little woody area where they can run around and have shade from the heat of summer. Then our yard can be spared the poop and pee these six leave behind…nice thought huh? I’ll keep you posted what the farmer says…probably wants a million kroner for this….

Isn’t it glorious when the snow is melting? I was thinking how amazingly fast the snow is leaving…seems not too long ago we were wading out in knee deep snow in this field to play with the dogs and now…almost nothing!

And look what I found in the woods behind the dog pens…blåveis!! Not sure what the translation would be in English- maybe someone reading knows what it would be…please let us know if you would….but they are sweet and they are colourful and that is wonderful after the long dark winter with all the darkness and white everywhere…the colour is GREAT!

We are able to dry clothing outside again and there is nothing like clean towels dried outside….they smell so good- same thing with our sheets from our beds!

I guess it’s safe to put these away now….and bring out…

…my bike….now that I have those fancy bike shorts with the diaper thing in the crotch so I won’t lose feeling in my….well, you know….I have no excuses anymore not to bike…they say once you’ve learned to ride a bike you never forget. Hope that is true!

Some people have flowers outside their homes….we have dog leashes and dog collars and dog harnesses- you name it, we have it for the dogs…but I imagine there will be flowers coming outside also eventually.

Tonight it’s just Thomas and Julia and I home so I’ll make some homemade mini pizzas and we’ll take it easy. Tomorrow we plan to work out in the yard- well, not Julia. Her back is still really bad and she is walking all hunched over. She had crashed the atv a couple months ago and it rolled off the side of the road- she managed to get it back up on the road but in the process did something to her back. Monday we’re going to the chiropractor. She’s been to the regular doctor who gave me some long name for what it was but I don’t remember. I just got that we were to take Julia to the chiropractor and she’d be called in for an MR x-ray instead of a regular x-ray when they have time for her. (You know how that socialized medicine system works)

Have an enjoyable Saturday and thanks for stopping by!

Until next time my friends…