Monday 29 September 2008

Sara is 17!!

Can you believe it? My daughter is 17!! In one year she can drive a car!!

Sara had a good birthday. Winnie and Rasmus were here all weekend. We woke early Sunday morning to presents and a cooked breakfast - yummie!! Then they all headed out to the go-kart track, Krisitan went with them.

Granny Rasmussen had baked Sara´s favourite cake for her to take to the go-kart track and share with her friends. They so enjoyed the day there.



Meanwhile at home we had a relaxing morning.

We didnt go to church, but had a quiet morning at home instead. (Kristian had the car so getting to church would have been, first by bike, then train and then a bus!) So instead I was able to play a little piano, read a little and just have a bit of peace and quiet.

Leah went to visit her friend, who lives around the corner. Andrew was at home being cosy too. I spent the afternoon painting. I was trying to do something a bit different - this is what I ended up with. (see below) It was a bit hard drawing vases from my head! Not sure I got the shadows right, but I had so much fun doing it.


Finally Kristian and Sara arrived home and we had dinner together. Having a Sunday like that really gets me ready for another busy week. God knew what he was doing when he said we needed a day of rest.

Saturday 27 September 2008

A day full of experiences..

...that it certainly was! It started early with food shopping for the weeks rations!



Then it was quickly home as Sara,Winnie and Rasmus were getting to use our car to drive to a go-kart race. Winnie just passed her test a month ago so we gave them permission to use the car today instead of taking the train. They were totally delighted. We as parents were feeling really old!


Kristian and I had planned to go to the next town to do a bit of shopping. Tomorrow is Sara´s birthday so we needed to get a few presents for her. We planned to bike up to the station and take the train, but it was such a beautiful day that Kristian suggested that we bike it the 10km to the next town! I was all for that, well after a bit of persuasion.

We had a wonderful bike ride - although I must admit at times I was falling way behind Kristian. The way we biked was actually rather hilly and I was finding it hard to keep up with my hubby. The country side was soooo beautiful.


We did a little window shopping first, but it wasnt long before we started to get a little hungry. My hubby invited me to lunch. We found a new cafe that had just opened yesterday. We thought we would try it out and give them our support.

We were not disappointed!! The food was absolutely delicious, and quite reasonable. It wont be the last time we go there!

We then found an art gallery which we never knew was there. We went in and had a look around. Some of the paintings were rather interesting, not really my type, but it was fun to look around.
We then went to another gallery. We got talking to one of the artists there. I was getting really inspired to come home and do some painting.
Finally we went shopping. I got the few presents we needed to get for Sara. (She isnt getting very much as she got a cheap 2nd hand laptop at the start of September which she needed for school, this was her birthday present.) But I wanted to get her a few small things. Then I had another senior moment!!
I went into a shop a bit like Boots. I bought a gift card for £10. They packed the gift card in a small box with samples of perfumes and creams - it all looked really good.
At the same time I bought shampoo/conditioner. When I came home around 4.30pm, I realised that I only had the shampoo and conditioner in my bag. I had left the gift token sitting on the counter. I paniced a bit and then decided to ring the shop.
I got a very annoyed sales persons on the line. She told me they were closed and she couldnt answer any questions until Monday. I wasnt going to give up that easy so before she had a chance to put the phone down, I quickly asked if they had found a gift card. Thankfully they had. I can go and get it on Monday after work.
What is happening to me!!!
Before heading home I invited hubby for a café latté, me - a hot chocolate! We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine before the bike ride home again.
We biked a different route home and went through a wee village that we often drive through. It is such a cosy place and one of the houses has a sign outside that they have an art gallery. Because we are usually in the car we never stop but today we stopped when we saw the sign and that they were open.
We met two lovely people who both were artists. We got to see their paintings and sculptures, plus her studio - it was a fantastic place. We then found out that they played music too, so we got one of their CD´s home to listen to and Krisitan has promised to go over with a CD of his sister, were he is playing saxophone.
It has really been a day full of many different experiences, and a day that we have enjoyed soooo much.
Andrew and Leah were at home while we were out having fun. They just wanted a day at home to relax - and they had a really cosy time together.
What a fantastic sky - taken just outside our apartment.

Friday 26 September 2008

Friday night with friends...

It´s been a really great Friday evening. We had our good friends, Jette and Filip here with their wee son Jonatan. He is just so cute. He kept us all entertained with his smiles and laughter.

Sara also had guests. Her good friends Winnie and Rasmus. They come from the west of Denmark. They are here to spend the weekend. So, tonight we had a full house for dinner - wasn´t room for any more people around the dinner table.


Every time we are together with Jette and Filip we have such a good time. Our dream is to buy a farm together and after every visit that dreams grows. We would just love to be neighbours!! Lets work on the dream Jette!!


Thursday 25 September 2008

You´re the boss

It´s been a fun evening.

I was invited, along with my other colleagues, home to my boss for dinner. He loves to cook and is always telling us what a wonderful chef he is - so tonight he had to prove it. Well I must admit, he did that. We had a wonderful meal!

One of my colleagues decided to take the CD of Mamma Mia along for background music. Well Peter, my boss stuck the CD on...I was busy talking so didnt know what CD he had put in. The music started and it was beautiful. Peter turned to me and said "OK Laura, what song is this?" I listened, it was panpipes but I couldnt really place it. He kept going on at me that I should know this song. So I concentrated even more - no I still couldnt place it.

"Well you have been to see the movie 5 times and you dont know the song" he replied. It was a song from Mamma Mia but I couldnt remember that song being in Mamma Mia. My colleague was going on about this song being at the start of the film, but I just could not remember it. They teased me soooo much about not remembering the song after seeing the film so many times. (I was getting ready to go and see the film again!)

Then Peter forwarded to the next song.... it was also a panpipe song. It was then we realised that my colleague had lifted the Mamma Mia CD cover but it was a panpipe CD in it.. Here I was thinking I was going nuts!! I really thought I was having another senior moment - but a really serious one this time!! We had a good laugh about that.

I had arranged a game of "Name that tune". They thought this was hilarious. They had never played that before. It was boys against girls and the girls won!!

The rest of the evening was spent chatting and laughing together. I have some really great colleagues and we always have a great time together.

Wednesday 24 September 2008

Congratulations

For all of you who didnt make it to Julie and Johns weddings - here they are:
Arent they cute??
Today is Julie and Johns wedding anniversary. Julie and I grew up together. Our parents were great friends, so we did a lot of things together when we were small. I used to pretend that Julie was my wee sister, way back then! haha
I have also known John for many years, but not just as well as I knew Julie. He came to our childrens meeting in the mission hall. He was a cute wee thing - John whatever happened to you!! haha
They have been married 16 years today. Congratulations you two love birds!! Julie sent these pictures ages ago to me. I got them too late for the theme I did on weddings - so I thought today was an appropiate day to set them in. Don´t they look cute!
So what year did Julie get married??? You know we never did find a winner for the wedding dates competition...and now I have gone and deleted all the comments etc (but the less said about that - the better!haha) Why dont we just say you are all winners - so get your tickets booked for two nights at our place!! haha

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Another senior moment...

So the last few days have been a little hectic. Not that anything exciting has been happening - just the normal everyday life things, like work, housework, food shopping, dinner, pack lunches and helping with lots of homework.

But inbetween all these things, Kristian and I between us, have had a few "senior moments". What do I mean, well read on.....

Take yesterday morning for example....

Sara went off to take the train to school. A while after she left Kristian found her purse lying in the hall. Her train card is in her purse, so she needed it. He rang her on her mobile. She was still at the station in our town, and the train would be there in 6 minutes. If Kristain hurried he could drive up to the station and get her purse to her in time.

So like Superman he leapt into the car, drove as fast as the speed limit would allow and made it up to the station were Sara was waiting anxiously for her purse. But there was no purse!! Kristian in his excitement to get to the train station in time, went out of the house without the purse. It was still sitting in the hall! He ended up picking Sara up taking her home to get her purse and then driving her to school. What a pair!!

Then today I was in the supermarket to get milk and bread. I had my hoversack with me and started to pack the food into this. The cashier told me the amount I owed and I went to get my purse so I could pay, but I just couldnt find it! I took the milk and bread out of my bag again, then my books, my pencil case, my hair brush and 101 other things I have in my bag....no, I couldnt find my purse anywhere.

Then, to my embrassement, I realised - my purse was tucked up into my armpit....I had taken it out when I went to pack the milk, I had stuffed it under my arm so that I had two free hands to pack my bag - then I forgot all about it! Honestly what are we like!!

Saturday 20 September 2008

Kristian fell asleep at the wheel...

My hubby is usually a very responsible driver, however tonight he did the unthinkable! He fell asleep at the wheel! How dangerous can you get!

Kristian had been sitting racing at his computer, I had been sitting across the way in the living room updating my blog with all the posts I had deleted. I had got used to the sound of the roar of an engine from his computer, but suddenly I realised it was very quiet.

I thought to myself "has Kristian gone to bed without saying goodnight, or without me noticing?" So I stopped typing and looked across to where he races - you can see below what I saw! HAHA He had fallen asleep while racing on his computer. I just had to get a snap of it before I woke him!!

What a laugh we had. I think it´s time to get him tucked up into bed. He is, after all, not as young as he used to be!! (and sitting at a computer racing is really hard work!!)


We have had a good day today. I went to the hairdressers, then met Kristian afterwards for a wander around town. We had a lovely lunch in our wee french cafe before heading home.

The reason I actually went shopping today was to get some presents for our two neices who have a birthday tomorrow. I printed out a wish list from them just before going to town, and thought about what shops I wanted to go too, to buy something for them. Then I wandered into these shops, had a look around and left, without once thinking about presents. I totally forgot all about buying presents. How weird is that!! At 3.30pm I remembered. But by that time we were home.

In Denmark all the shops close at 2pm on a Saturday (some stay open to 4pm but that´s in the next town, and I couldnt make it back there in time.) The only place open in our town is the supermarket - until 4pm. What a panic I was in! I jumped into the car and drove up to see if I could find anything suitable for them there. I think I did!! (hope they like what I got!)

Meanwhile Leah and her friend totally enjoyed shopping all by themselves. They bought a few t-shirts for themselves. The film was a big hit and they did well finding the train home.

Leah called me twice on the way home, just to make sure it was the right train they were getting. She was all pleased that she had achieved that. I picked them up at the train station in our town.

Her friend stayed for dinner and then another friend came over to watch "The Kids Eurovision Song Contest." (Oh boy, some of those kids can´t sing!!) Finally, I kicked everyone home at 10pm and Leah was quickly tucked into bed. Peace at last.

Now I am about to head into bed.

(P.S. - you might notice that the blog entries are growing again. I have decided to take a ½ hour everyday to update my blog with all the old entries. Before long it should look like it´s old self!!)

Friday 19 September 2008

Leahs birthday party

Well this year Leah didnt want a party with lots of people. She just wanted her friend to come and spend the evening. (She had such a good night doing our beauty treatment that she wanted her friend to also experience it. )

So today after school her friend came home to us. They played all afternoon. After dinner they started the beauty treatment - mud mask, foot bath etc. They had great fun. (but what a mess they made in my bathroom - not to mention the amount of towels they used, about 4 towels each - no joke!) Then it was into their PJ´s. I had dragged a mattress in front of the TV for them so they could lie there and see the Hanna Montana concert that they are sooo wild about.

The original idea was that Leahs friend would sleep here, but her friend gets homesick and doesnt really like sleeping away from her mum. So there was a last minute change of plans. Leah went home to her. (She lives just around the corner) Then tomorrow the girls will come to us for breakfast. We will then head out to the next town for a shopping trip. I will leave them to shop alone. (First time they will try this - oh my wee girl is growing up!) They are so excited at being able to go around the shops by themselves. Then in the afternoon they will go see a Danish film in the cinema. Finally they want to take the train home - alone, and I will collect them at the train station.

Listening to them chat about going shopping alone, brought back a memory from my childhood/youth. I still remember the day I was allowed to go into Belfast for the first time and shop "alone". It was with my 4 school friends. We came up with the idea to go shopping but weren´t sure our parents would let us, so we all went home and asked if we could take the bus to Belfast after school on a particular day. All our parents said yes!! We spent days planning our trip. I was in 1st year at Deramore and I felt sooo grown up to be going to Belfast "alone" to shop. (How funny to think that that was such a big thing for me in those days! haha)

While the girls were watching the Hanna Montana concert I got some of the lost blog posts back unto the blog. (maybe you have noticed!) It´s not so bad putting the text in - I can just paste that, it´s uploading all the pictures again - that is such a pain. But hey, I´m getting there, slowly but surely.

You can be sure I wont be pressing any delete buttons again in a hurry!!


Wednesday 17 September 2008

A wee update from the plunker...

..Yes the plunker who deleted her blog!!

You know in work today I had a plan. The plan was to come home, check out everyones blog, NOT write anything in mine and go to bed at 9pm with a book and my electric blanket (weather has turned a bit chilly over here - perfect for the electric blanket!) But did I follow that plan - OH NO - I had to muck around with the blog while making dinner and this is the result. A deleted blog. I have now spent the whole night out in Cypberspace searching for my lost blog. Did you ever!!!

I have some good news - thanks to Stuart (Paulines hubby) I have been able to locate alot of the posts, not all of them, but it´s better than none. I have now copied them to my computer - then slowly I can re-enter them unto my blog. I have also written to blogger.com to see if they can help. Maybe they can just hit a button and magically everything will come back again, without me having to re-type it all.

But you know something good came out of this. I just realised tonight what a special, wonderful group of friends I have. (No that isnt right - I realised that a long time ago, but I was reminded of it, once again tonight.) You guys have been soooo great. I really was feeling rotten but your comments, phone calls, funny songs and funny comments have all made my night a lot better. Thanks for that. You are a great bunch of friends and I am soooo blessed to have you all in my life. (again)

Thanks to blogging we came together again so how can I not continue this blogging thing, no matter how discouraged I was feeling earlier - I AM BACK!!

Now it is 11.30pm, nothing is going according to my plans today!! I better get to bed...Goodnight all.

I am soooo stupid

I am now sitting here kicking myself!!! I, by mistake deleted my blog!!! (I am nearly in tears!!!) What was I doing??? What was I thinking....well obviously I wasn´t thinking! (Suppose that´s what I get for mucking around on the blog while trying to make dinner! I am not a real woman!! I just can´t multi task!! )


I had been muckinig around with an idea that we had when we chatted the other Saturday night, an idea to set up a blog where we could post prayer requests etc, a sort of ATTIC re-union place....and so I went in to see what I could do. I set up a blog just to see how it would work, but I wasnt going to keep it. I went in to delete that blog and what did I do - deleted MY blog instead. As soon as I hit the button I knew! I knew I had done the wrong thing. My heart sank!


I quickly typed my blog address but it couldn´t be found. Nine months of work down the drain at the touch of one button. It was my diary....it was my family photo album. It was my thoughts....Oh I am so depressed! This is so ridiculous, if you could see me now!! You would think someone had died!

I think maybe I should just try writing a diary instead.....it´s maybe a little safer.

Ok I cant talk anymore right now I am just soooo mad at myself....

Be back later -maybe!

Monday 15 September 2008

Contentment

I just love this time of year! From now until Christmas - it´s my favourite time! I just get so contented. I love the change in the air, the evenings getting darker, the cosiness off being indoors...




I love when the leaves change colour, and a walk in the forest just makes you stop in wonder at the beauty and the colour around you. I love the feel of the fallen leaves as I walk through them. I love looking for bargins for Chrsitmas presents (this is when I start doing that!) I love lighting the candles/lanterns outside our front door to give a little warmth and light to those making their way home. I love lighting the candles indoors to give us some cosiness on a dark autumn evening. You know I could go on and on about all the things I love at this time of the year, but I´ll stop. (aren´t you glad!!)



Today I just got this contented feeling as I came out of the supermarket. There was a slight nip in the air and it just felt soooo good to be going home to a warm, cosy apartment. I suddenly felt so blessed. Blessed to have a home, to have a bed. Blessed to have a family to share life with. Blessed to have food (so that I need to diet!) Blessed to have friends to laugh with, be silly with and read blogs with. Blessed to be able to get out of bed every morning to go to work. So many times I take all these things for granted but today I stopped up and counted my blessings and I realised I am one blessed lady! Why not take time yourself to count your blessings. It really did me good - it might do you good too!



One other thing - I am blessed to be off work tomorrow!! It is Leahs 11th birthday so I have taken the day off so I can be here with her in the morning when she opens her presents (she is after all still our baby!) I will then have a few hours on my own while everyone is at school. I think I might paint! (or watch a DVD.) Whatever I do I am going to enjoy it. It´s not every day I get a day off!




Ok better go get the presents wrapped!

Saturday 13 September 2008

Girls night in...

...it was just Leah and me at home all day. What bliss!! (not that I dont enjoy having Kristian and the other two at home, but when you go from 5 people down to just 2, well there is a certain stillness and bliss about it.)

We started the day with a long lie in. Just what we needed. I can vaguely remember Kristian saying goodbye to me in the wee early hours of the morning - but then again that might have been a dream!

The first part of the day was used to clean and tidy up. Leah did her room. She dusted and organised her room, then chatted to me while I did the rest of the house (minus Sara and Andrews room - they get to do that themselves!) When all the housework was done we could hold our girls day together.

None of us wanted to go out - although, I must be honest, going to see Mamma Mia had crossed my mind! But we both needed a day in, we had been out enough all last week. With the house organised we watched some TV - Hanna Montana concert in 3D. Not that I could see what good the 3D glasses did. It all looked the same whether I had them on or not.

Dinner was ate in front of the TV too. Not often we do that.Then after dinner it was time for a visit to Lauras beauty parlour. We had such fun! First things first....we needed to collect together everything we would need.


Then it was time for the mud masks......



This was followed by the foot baths.....and a lot of chatter!


Then it was the mud mask rinse, followed by a dead sea salt body scrub....aaahhh, lovely! Then into a hot shower with a delicious smelling shower gel....we sure felt good!


Finally we smothered ourselves in body lotions and moisturising creams. Now we not only felt good but smelt good too!!


The hair also needed done.....


And finally we were ready to see our film and eat our treats! Suppose we should have ate all the fruit that was in the kitchen but instead we opted for crisps, chocolate and smarties.....not the best choice, but sure, it was girls night in!!


After the film it was time for bed. I think it was a successful girls night in! Thanks Leah for a fun evening!

Friday 12 September 2008

I need sleep

It has been a crazy week with many long busy days, (I´m sure many of you can indentify with this!!) But it has been good!

Now it´s weekend and I am soooo ready for it!Leah and I have been away tonight to a BBQ with her class. We had the most delicious steaks (ages since I´ve had steaks!) with salad and pasta....yummie!! The best thing was probably just sitting down to a meal that I didn´t make myself. How I love doing that!

We played games, the kids danced, we made a bon-fire and we sang songs around the fire. It was all very cosy. I think everyone enjoyed the evening.

Now Leah is fast asleep in the land of make believe and it wont be long till I´m there too!While we were out with Leahs class, Sara was at a BBQ with her class. That left Kristian and Andrew at home. So they had a father and son evening. It´s always nice to have the kids one at a time.

Kristian, Sara and Andrew are getting ready to go on a go-kart camp. They will leave tomorrow morning at 6am!! (crazy people!) So at the minute the living room is filled with go-kart helmets, suits, sleeping bags, matresses, bags etc. They are really looking forward to this trip. It´s their old indoors go-kart club who has arranged the camp. They just hang out and have fun driving go-karts, no competition! Kristian is soooo looking forward to it cause he gets to drive this weekend too.

Meanwhile Leah and I have a really cosy girls weekend planned. We can hardly wait to get them all out of the house so we can do our thing. What is that, I hear you ask? Well you´ll just have to check back tomorrow evening to see.

We´ll keep you posted!

Wednesday 10 September 2008

HOME HELP WANTED

.....boy it´s hard being a working mum and wife. I now realise how spoiled I was over the last 6 months. Kristian really was a great home help. Now when I come home from work the house is back to normal - unmade beds, piles of unwashed clothes, dust everywhere....as my friend Jeffrey says "there´s nothing like a REAL home!" Ours certainly is that again!

So what has been happening in the Rasmussen household over the last few days.......

Well on Monday I worked late. Then there was the shopping to do, the dinner to make, laundry, clear up after dinner, helping with homework, in other words just a normal day. Then for some crazy reason I decided to bake some baps for the kids lunches. (Still trying to be this amazing mum who makes great lunch packs for her kids!) After I started making them I wished I hadn´t, the kitchen just ended up in a mess again, and the stupid things took me all night to make. Before I knew it, it was time for bed. Now where did that day go?!



...Tuesday was also a busy day, although this day was more fun. I was going out with my friend Audry to Ikea. It was our girls night out!! So after work I came home and relaxed a bit, (I didn´t care that the house needed a good tidy up, the clothes needed washed, or the kitchen needed organised - I just closed my eyes to it all) I sat down on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate and watched "Extreme Makeovers". It´s an American show where they knock down and re-build a new house in 7 days. It´s amazing and they decorate it just soooo beautifully. I had a good cry at this programme. It was just so touching, so good!!

Then it was off to Ikea for the evening, leaving Kristian to make the dinner. Audry and I had a great evening wandering around dreaming and planning. At 9pm when Ikea closed we headed over to McDonalds for our burgers and spent an hour or so chatting.


....Today, (Wednesday) has been nice. I have had a wonderful afternoon in town with Leah. She took the train (for the first time) all by herself and met me from work. We then went to my wee "french" café for hot chocolate. It was perfect weather - the rain was pouring down! So we sat in this cosy cafe drinking our hot chocolate and watching the rain.
It was then around the shops to look for birthday presents for her birthday. Today I could devote all my time and attention to her, so we had so much fun spotting things she would like for her birthday. (Hope I can remember them all when I go tomorrow to get some things!)
I am now about to head into bed. How I love my bed!!Tomorrow is Thursday and the weekend is just around the corner - isn´t that wonderful news! I´ll get to sleep long on Saturday!! YES!

Sunday 7 September 2008

Today was Kristians 42nd birthday!!
Happy Birthday to you!
We started the day the usual way, by waking the birthday boy up with a song. In the living room we had the presents on the coffee table, the living room was decorated with flags and streamers (never too old for them!) I had actually forgotten the sweets - oops, usually we write the persons age with sweets on the table....no-one noticed that I had forgotten that, at least no-one mentioned it.

We had a few surprises for him. Kristian loves music DVD´s, so he got one of Stings DVDs. He also got a film (Rush hour 2) , a CD, and two new shirts.

As you can see my family are not really morning people. That or Kristian thinks this birthday is rather boring.


Ah good, a smile. No more yawns - at least not that I captured on camera.....



I had a very happy husband. (He got a Michael McDonald CD)
We had invited some friends over for dinner, so this afternoon I decided I would try and make a pavlova. Well low and behold it turned out really well. Have a look for yourself...

Kristian wanted chinese for dinner, so I made 3 different chinese dishes - whew, it was hard work. We had chilli chicken (absolutely delicious), chicken curry (also rather good) and then I cheated with the last dish - chicken nuggets with Uncle Bens sweet and sour sauce. It all turned out really well (I dont know what happened to me today!)

Dessert was the pavlova. This is one of Kristian´s favourites, so he was very pleased to get not only his favourite chinese food, but a pavlova too. Our friends had never tried pavlova before, and they were wild about it.....there wasn´t very much left in the end.


I think I can go to bed content. It has been a successful birthday, a successful meal and a successful pavlova. What more could a girl ask for.


Saturday 6 September 2008

Crazy Days

It has been a few crazy days. I really haven´t been home since Wednesday evening!


It started on Thursday. After work I went to visit some of the old people that I looked after while in the HomeCare. (I keep contact with a few of them, those that don´t have any family, they are very much on their own.) I had a lovely afternoon with them. They are just so thankful for having you come by for an hour. I get sooo much out of these visits. But I first got home at 6pm! So I was actually gone from home from 6am to 6pm!! (Well that was ok - the kids were all doing things that afternoon, so I had freedom to stay out.) It was a quick dinner and then I had to go and shop for some lunch stuff for Friday - we were low, so off I went to the next town (as their supermarket is open to 8pm). Finally I arrived home at 8pm. Then my friend Laura popped over with her computer, Kristian was going to take a look at it. Thankfully he was able to fix it. Finally at 10pm I fell into bed exhausted!!


Friday wasn´t much better. Went to work and stopped work at 2.15pm. Had to do a bit of shopping on the way home. Leah rang - she was sitting on the toilet and we had run out of toilet paper, so with no toilet paper and no kitchen roll she was in a panic. I was on the train on the way home, so I did a wee detour to the shops to get what we needed. I sure miss my homehelp!! You can really tell Kristian has gone back to work!!

I finally arrived home at 3.00pm! It in for a quick shower and change of clothes. I said a quick hello to the kids, a few explainations about what they should tell their dad about dinner...and then I was off again. I was going out with work. The whole school - teachers, cleaners and the board members were going out for an evening. A treat from the school.We drove up the coast to a town north of where we live. It was known for helping the jews during second world war. We got a guided tour of the town with stories about the jews, where they had hidden them, things that happened to them. It was really interesting. We ended in the old church were we climbed up into the roof, were 80 jews were hid but were found by the Germans.



We then drove into Copenhagen to "The New Harbour". Here there is a lot of cafĂ©s and restaurants. We were having dinner in one of these restaurants. It was delicious. It was also really cosy. It was such a beautiful evening, very mild. I have been to "The New Harbour" during the summer. It´s always popular to go there and get an ice cream. But I have never been there in the evening. It was something special. I now know what I am going to do for next years anniversary!!! (sssshhhh - I will say no more, but next year I´ll be organised!)


We walked along the harbour back to the bus and we saw the new opera house. Isn´t it beautiful. (Girls - don´t you fancy a weekend in Copenhagen???!!! Isnt it just a little tempting!!) I was first home at 12.30!! Exhausted again - but it was a good evening!

Today has been busy too. Tomorrow is Kristian´s birthday, (and my good friends brithday). Sara´s friend is also 18 today and she is going to his birthday this evening, so we had 3 presents to buy today. Kristian was going down to the south of Denmark to play his saxophone at a wedding. (A surprise the groom had arranged for his bride. - Isn´t that sweet) Kristian´s sister would play piano. He would be gone till late afternoon.

So after some food shopping (we had absolutely nothing in this house when we woke this morning!) Sara, Leah and I headed to the nearby town to shop. And shop we did!!
I was getting totally stressed in my mind with all the presents I had to get. Sara was wanting help with her friends present and I was trying to figure out what to get my hubby and friend. On top of that Leah has a birthday a week on Tuesday, so she was running around showing me things she would like. Phew!! What a day!!

Finally by 4pm we had everything and could head home to a really, really, messy, dirty house. Kristian arrived home the same time as us, so we both got stuck in. I took the kitchen and living room. He took the bathroom and hall. We got this place cleaned up in no time!!

So now Kristian is driving Sara and her two friends to the birthday party. I am about to clear up the kitchen again after dinner (with a little help from Leah) Then it´s chat time. So looking forward to chatting to all my friends again. See you all at 8pm!! (english time!)

Wednesday 3 September 2008

Inspiration!

I was getting inspired! Two of my friends (Lisa and Pauline) are really into baking. They, like me, have a blog with different stories about receipes they have tried. They make it sound so wonderful and easy! So I thought that I would give it a go.


The plan was this.... Kristian was going down to church to practise his sax for a while. While gone, I would bake some cakes, with a little help from Leah. We would then light some candles for daddy coming home, make some coffee and tea, and have some delicious cake. So we got stuck in. It seemed to be going well. The cake looked good when it came out of the oven, maybe a little thin....(as the receipe said to cut it down the middle so that cream could go in there. I really didn´t think we could cut this in two! ) But that was ok, we would just put the cream on top....no problem!

The problem came when I tried to get it off the tin. It was a springform, so I thought it would be easy to take off. No! I must have used glued instead of butter to grease the tin with! Leah and I struggled for about 5 minutes to try and get the cake off the tin. We won the battle in the end but the cake did look like it had been through the wars.


So we then decided to bake something that I had tried before....wee buns. Now that just can´t go wrong - right?!! WRONG....I think I must have filled the cases up a little too much, (but I just wanted to make sure they were big wee buns), or else the mixture was too runny....but see the results below. Not very eye appealing eh?
I think the baking went to my daughters head. She ended up running around the house with her shorts on her head - don´t ask me why!!! So needless to say we didn´t light any candles, I didn´t make any coffee or tea.... All I got out of tonights activites was a messy kitchen and a pile of dishes to wash! Lisa and Pauline I am leaving the baking up to you two. How on earth can you enjoy something like this!!!



Monday 1 September 2008

Kristian crowned King of Romance - at least for today


Well today was our 18th wedding anniversary. It has been a lovely day. If you read the post last night you will know that I was NOT organised for today. Usually I am sooo organised and full of surprises - it´s my husband who never has anthing ready. He usually ends up picking up a card on the way home from work. So what a surprise I got this morning, when sleepy eyed, I walked into the kitchen to find a beautiful card and a present sitting on the kitchen table.
At first I thought I was getting a CD (possible Mamma Mia CD) but on opening the present I realised it was a gift card for a wellness experience. (This is something I have talked about from time to time.) So Kristian had remembered! I can take my pick from different beauty/spa/massage places, I just need to ring and book a time and then give them my gift card. I can get a massage or manicure or facemask etc. Different places specialise in different things. The one I actually fancy is a massage with chocolate!! Yes, you read right. It starts out with warm stones and then goes into a massage with melted chocolate....maybe I could get them just to leave the chocolate for me to eat while they give me the massage. haha Sounds a bit messy but fun. So who know´s I might give it a try! I have never had a proper massage before so I am soooo looking forward to that.So needless to say I was totally speechless. That my husband had remember our anniversary and actually bought me a present really blew me away!
After work I had to think of something for him, again I was totally blank - I wandered around the shops not knowing what to get. Finally I found a DVD with Phil Colins. He likes his music, so the DVD with a few of his favourite chocolates would do the job.
Kristian arrived home after a really good day at work. His colleages are really nice, and they made him feel very welcome. He thinks he´s going to like this place! The two girls he will be working with have funny surnames, one is called Summer and the other Winter!! How funny is that!When Kristian arrived home he had some flowers for me. Well, this was really too much! A present and flowers - wow I really was in shock. haha
We both weren´t feeling up to a long evening out on the town, but did want to get out on our own for a short while. So we fed the kids and then Kristian and I headed out to our local chinese restaurant. It´s a really cosy place and we had the most delicious buffet.

While at the restaurant this guy came over and said hello to me. I nearly didn´t recongise him. It was a fella that had come to our Bible club as a kid. He´s about 18 or 19 now. He was out with his girlfriend celebrating their 2 year anniversary...aahhh, it was so sweet. Wonder if they will get married? Young love! We agreed that 1st September was a good day to celebrate love! haha

Then it was home to give my husband a nice relaxing food bath. (I had bought foot salts while in town today) The water was a little too hot for his liking - took a little time to get those feet in there.


Seeing how relaxed he looked (well, maybe not in the picture above!) I decided to give it a try too. So we spent the evening relaxing while watching the Phil Colins DVD. Yes it sure has been a good day and a relaxing, romantic evening.