Sunday 30 June 2013

Another weekend....

......almost over!

It has been a lovely relaxing weekend. Kristian has been away with his brother-in-law, Flemming.  Flemming was racing this weekend and Kristian would be his mechanic. They left Friday afternoon after work and travelled for about 4 hours to the other side of Denmark. 

Meanwhile I was at home holding the fort and loving every minute of it. 

Saturday morning I was up early and of to church to clean. It was our turn for that. Then it was home to clean my own wee place. It was all very peaceful at home. Andrew was at a flee market with Camilla (the things love will make you do!!! ) and Leah was at work.

Laura popped in at one stage and we had a cuppa and a Snicker Bar each. Ok, I will be honest here...we had 2½ snicker bars each!! I can´t believe I confessed that! haha But it was Laura that lead me astray! She is worse than I am!! HONEST!!! She couldn´t sit and drink her tea knowing I had those Snicker Bars, so she MADE me get them out and we devoured the lot!  

The worse part is, that we had so much fun doing it!! The joy that those bars of chocolate gave us was wonderful! hahaha


 Late afternoon I went down to visit Kristian´s sister Hanne. She was also alone (being that Flemming, her husband, was off racing with my husband!) So we planned to eat dinner together and maybe go see a movie. 


She had made a delicious dinner for me and we sat out on their balcony and ate. Since there wasn´t any movies in the cinema that we were interested in going to see, we decided that we would stay home and watch the movie that was on TV and that was a good decision.

We had such a cosy evening together. I then was able to pick Leah up on the way home after her long evening at work. 


Today I decided the outside of the house needed a bit of colour, something to make it stand out.....



....so I painted a few dots here and there. A little surprise for Kristian coming home!!!





Ok - if the truth be known.....they are only stickers! Laura and I wanted to do something to shock Krsitian.  We said to him last week, that we thought this place needed brightening up and maybe we could think of an idea at the weekend to brighten it up. This is the idea!!! haha  I hope he falls for it! 

After we put the stickers up we sent Laura´s daughter Mia out with the rubbish....she came back and said nothing. She hadn´t even noticed them! Then Camilla and Andrew came home and they didn´t even notice them, I had to send them outside again! They all need glasses!

It has been a lovely weekend and I feel all charged up for my last week at work!! On Friday I stop for 4½ weeks!! Roll on Friday!



  

Friday 28 June 2013

Let the holidays begin.....

.....at least for my kids. I have still one week left at work and then I have 4½ weeks of holiday. I am so looking forward to the break and then before you know it, it will be Christmas again!! 

Leah´s graduation was on Tuesday. We had a lovely evening at her school. It feels a bit strange having no more kids at the local school.  Our time of going to parent/teacher meetings and parent´s night are over. Not that I am sad about that. I really didn´t enjoy going to those things. It was just something I had to do. 





She got her exam results and she was pleased and we were pleased. She did well. After summer she will go to a different school for a year. There she will take a course on music and drama while still studying maths, danish, english and science. She still isn´t sure what she wants to do, so this will give her an extra year to figure things out. 

On Thursday evening we had Camilla over visiting again. This time Kristian was home and Leah too. So we had a lovely meal together and got to know her a little better.




Yes  - Love is still in the air!

Update on Sara - she is doing well. Going off to Italy in a few weeks time with Christian and his family. Turns out her little finger was broken after she fell down the stairs trying to stop the robbery in her shop so for the last few weeks she has been wearing a strap thing on her finger.

Monday 24 June 2013

Home again....

...my man is back!! He arrived home this afternoon and it is soooo good to see him again and have him home.

  He had a great time at Le Mann, although it was emotional with the death of the Danish driver.  He knew Allan to say hello to, in fact he was talking to him on Thursday at the track. So it was a bit unreal for him when they announced that he had died. 

 He was Sara´s friend´s co-driver so Sara knew him too. She was very upset when she heard the news and rang me in tears. I had no idea what had happened. Our thoughts and prayers go to Allan´s family.

I can´t believe how quickly the week has gone by. I had a busy  week so that is probably why the time went by so quickly.

Friday evening we had our summer party at work. It was held at my bosses fantastic home. He lives in the most wonderful place with acres of land around him. He also makes fantastic food, and  was making the food for the evening. After work my colleagues and I went up to help him get everything ready before all the teachers and office staff arrived.

He made chilli corn carne over an open fire....

We set the tables for the evening....


There was so much fantastic food....


After we ate, there were loads of activities to take part in, if you wished. There was shooting, which I totally loved! There was throwing the axe, there was darts, there was a viking game you could play and for the men there was an opportunity to race around the grounds on an ATV.


The shooting was my favourite - I actually hit the mark!



It was a beautiful evening and I  had a great time and got home a little bit late! 

On Saturday I started an art project, something I´ve never tried before.  It is fun, but this project takes a bit of time and I am not sure it will actually turn out in the end. But more about that in another post.

Tuesday 18 June 2013

He´s there.....

.....at Le Mann!  

Kristian left yesterday afternoon at 4.30pm for the long journey to Le Mann. They would drive down through Germany, Belgium and into France. I got a text at dinner this evening telling me they had arrived safe. A little later this photo turned up on facebook. Doesn´t he look happy?!! He just LOVES his motorsport! (Seeing this photo made me miss him!)


After he left yesterday my day suddenly got busy. I was having some girl friends over for a girly night with face creams.




It was great having all my girl friends gathered together in one place. I sooo enjoyed the evening, it was really cosy but it went by far too fast! I think they all enjoyed themselves. (I hope they did!) I love having them over. I have the best bunch of friends you could ask for! (both here and in Ireland!!)

It was way after midnight by the time I got to bed so today has been a hard day!!  My aim this evening was to get to bed early - hahaha, what a joke - that is sooooo not happening!  Another hard day ahead of me tomorrow! 

Oh by the way, Leah cooked dinner this evening and it was delicious. 

I always visit my old lady friend on a Tuesday and first get home after 6pm. We usually have an easy dinner on a Tuesday,  something unhealthy - something you just stick in the oven. 

But Leah decided she was sick of this and would make dinner. It was wonderful, when I came home she had made the most delicious dinner and we were able to sit outside and enjoy it. She had also emptied the dish washer and filled it with all the dirty dishes from last night. The house was tidied up and organised. She must be filling sick!!! Ah well, I´m going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Oh and it´s offical....Andrew is in a relationship with Camilla......it went on facebook this evening, so it must be serious!! :-)

Sunday 16 June 2013

All by myself......

.....I am going to be all by myself for the next week. 

Well, that is not totally true. I will still have Andrew and Leah here (and also my lovely neighbor Laura and her daughter) So totally alone I will not be!

Tomorrow Kristian is heading to France for 1 week. He is going down to be a Marshal at Le Mann. He did this last year and LOVED it so much, so now I think it is becoming a bit of a tradition. He, along with 4 of his go-kart friends, will be standing at post 61, Michelin chikane. So if you watch Le Mann and see a huge Danish flag being displayed as some of the cars fly by - this could be Kristian!


He has spent the better part of the weekend getting organised for it all. They sleep in tents and the weather doesn´t look too promising. Glad it´s him and not me going!! He is all excited, he is like a wee boy waiting for Christmas! haha  For me spending a week at a racing track, having to listen to the sound of cars going around and around would be pure torture. It´s good we all are different!

As for me - I have a busy week planned! I have a "girly night in" coming up, a visit to my old lady, a summer party at work and I would love to get some art work done too. In between all that I have to work, be a mum, make the dinner, clean the house,  do washing and be a taxi driver for Leah! (except when Andrew is home - he loves to do that job!) So I will not be bored!

As for Andrew - Love is still in the air! (I am finding it really weird having a son in love! haha)

We were talking about love this afternoon at lunch and about how quickly you can fall in love. I happened to say to Andrew "I think it´s a bit quick to say you´re in love after a few weeks....."  (I sounded so like my mum!) Kristian coughed and looked at me, laughed and said..."And how long did it take us to fall in love and then go and get engaged??!!!"  Oh yeah - I forgot about that! Boy what I must have put my mum and dad through! It was crazy what I did!!!  

(For those of you that don´t know you can read on....

I met Kristian in June at a conference in England. I didn´t really speak to him. At the most we said 3 sentences to each other over the week.

 Kristian however did get my address from a friend and wrote to me. We wrote letters to each other for about a month. Then we started to make cassette tapes to each other (I know - we are sooo old!!) That is how we got to know each other. 

I must admit I had fallen for him at the conference, and already during our letter writing time I started to fall in love. Then after that first tape I was in love!  We made tapes for about 2½ months. Then I came to see him in Denmark. 

I arrived Friday evening. This was the first time we would really speak face to face. The first time we would go on a date. On the Saturday evening he purposed - I said yes but thought we really should think about it for a few days to make sure! haha We thought about it until Tuesday when he gave me a ring that he had picked out for me.  (and that´s a whole other story!!)


 Kristian and me on the night of our engagement

I rang my mum and dad and told them I was engaged! At least my mum and dad knew a little about Kristian. However they thought it was just a "penpal thing" that would blow over. Kristian´s mum and dad knew NOTHING about me so when he rang to say he was engaged and getting married in under a year....they asked "WITH WHOM??!") 

So I suppose I can´t go on about falling in love too quickly! :-) 

And I must admit - I am even more in love after almost 23 years of marriage and 24 years of being together! (Do you want a bucket?!haha) So I suppose what I am trying to do is remind myself that you can fall in love quickly yet make it last a lifetime!)

Thursday 13 June 2013

Almost weekend!

Where has this week gone!?! Already tomorrow, it is Friday. In 3 weeks time I will be stopping work for 4 ½ weeks. I can hardly wait! This year we are heading down to Austria for one of the weeks to a place called Rauris. We were there 3 years ago - Andrew and Leah loved it so they suggested that we go back again.  Since Kristian and I loved the place too, it wasn´t hard for them to talk us into it. We invited Kristian´s mum to come along with us and she said yes! (Sara is going to Italy with Christian and his family)  I am so looking forward to having my mother-in-law there with us! We will drive down and stay in a beautiful apartment overlooking the valley.

Billeder af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa, Rauris
Dette billede af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa stilles til rĂ¥dighed af TripAdvisor Billeder af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa, Rauris
Dette billede af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa stilles til rĂ¥dighed af TripAdvisor Billeder af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa, Rauris
Dette billede af Schonblick Mountain Resort & Spa stilles til rĂ¥dighed af TripAdvisor

While we are gone Laura (our neighbour) has an American family coming to visit so they will stay in our house. 

Meanwhile the time is flying by and we are all getting older! This especially applies to my cousin Lorraine. It was her birthday yesterday 12th June. I wanted to do something fun for her so I made up a song for her last night and made a video of me performing it. However, this took forever and so while I was editing it, I kept falling asleep. In the end I had to give up, I was just too tired. I did however get the video finished this evening and uploaded to Facebook. You can also see the result below....




Then today I met up with my friend Rhona for our Strawberry Cake date! It was just such a fantastic afternoon! It went by far too fast. We talked none stop for almost 3 hours and I went home on a total high. I am more and more thankful for the wonderful people God has put in my life, and Rhona is one of those! 

The Strawberry cake was delicious as always! This time we were bad. Normally we just buy a small cake for one person....it´s like a slice of cake. But today they had a bargin - a large strawberry cake that would feed 4 people, going for nearly half the price. We couldn´t resist that so we bought a whole cake and sat and ate it. (It could have been worse....we could have bought a whole cake each!!!)




I left the house this morning at 6.30am and returned this evening at 6.30pm!

Then Sara rang this evening to tell me something. She started crying and said "I am ok, just wanted to tell you what happened today."

Sara works on the third floor in a shoe shop. Today she was busy with a customer but noticed two young fellas come up the stairs, she said hi to them and went to get the other customer the shoes she wanted. However out in the storage room she didn´t have the size she needed so she decided to go upstairs to another storage floor. It was then she thought something might be wrong...

She saw a coke bottle sitting on the stairs that hadn´t been there earlier, then she smelled men´s perfume. When she got to the top of the stairs and turned into the storage room she saw these two boys filling bags with shoes. She reacted and shouted at them and they took off towards the back stairs and entrances. Sara took off after them. One got down the stairs and out the door but the other one Sara got a hold of, however he stumbled and so did she and they both took a tumble down the stairs. Sara then realised that no one had heard her scream as she fell and now she was alone with this guy so she thought of her safety and backed off, he however was scared and ran from her, but not before she got the bag with the stolen shoes off him. He got away with nothing, however his friend got away with 2 or 3 pairs of shoes that probably cost 100 pounds each. 

She was ok, just a bit shaken when she finally realised what had happened. She hurt her hand when she took the tumble and her little finger is blue and swollen. If it is no better tomorrow she will go and get it checked at the hospital. Thank God that she is ok! 

There is never a dull moment!

Sunday 9 June 2013

Love is in the air.....

yes...love is in the air here in our wee home. Andrew met a girl a few weeks ago and has been on quite a few dates with her over the last few weeks. Today he wanted us to meet her. Her name is Camilla and she seems like a really lovely girl. She came to lunch and stayed a little of the afternoon.

After lunch Andrew decided they should go a walk as he wanted to show her the lake. Now Andrew has NEVER been a walk down to the lake. He has never been interested in going with us, but suddenly there is a girl involved and a romantic walk to the lake sounds wonderful!! Even though I explained to him how to get there, they never found it! haha Andrew has no sense of direction!

One thing is for sure,  it´s weird seeing my son all romantic with a girl!!!!! So let´s see how things go with Camilla.....I´ll keep you posted!

On Saturday I was in the place that I love - IKEA!!  My friend Jette has been wanting to go to Ikea for weeks. She is moving to a new house in August and wanted to go in and dream. I was only too willing to go along and dream with her. We had a wonderful afternoon together planning, chatting and dreaming. 


Friday 7 June 2013

Relaxation......

On Wednesday it was Father´s day here in Denmark. Since it was also Constitution day we were off work and school. (Although poor Andrew was not. While the rest of us slept, he was up at the crack of dawn getting ready for school.)


Leah and I had planned a little surprise for Kristian. Leah sent him a text message late Tuesday evening telling him that he needed to be ready for 10.30am the next morning. 

At 10.30am the next morning we headed to one of the towns close to us, to a cafe for brunch. Leah and I had been there before and enjoyed it so much, so she wanted her dad to experience it too. It was his Father´s day gift from her. 

We had such a delicious brunch and a cosy time together. 

It was then home to relax. The day was glorious! It was so wonderful to have a day off in the middle of the week. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, me lying on a blanket in the garden reading a book and Krisitan by working around the place doing wee odd jobs. Leah had to study, as she had an exam the next day. 

Wednesday 5 June 2013

From this to that....

Ten years ago when Leah started school she looked like this......


On Friday it was her last day at school and she looked like this......


She had a great last day at school. 

I love the way the Danes celebrate that day. The kids that are leaving get all dressed up in a fun way. They meet up for breakfast and then take over the school!! They run around throwing caramel sweets at all the kids in their classes, making a lot of noise as they go. Then they put on a show for the  whole school and make fun with the teachers that they have had through the years. Then those that want, go to the football field for a water and shaving foam fight.

Later in the day Leah met up with her class again, at one of her friend`s home. There they had dinner together before going to a party for all the 9th graders, from all the schools in our town. She really did have a great day!


Then this weekend our flower bed went from looking like this....



to looking like this...


While I cleaned the inside of the house, Kristian worked on the outside. Then I went food shopping and when I came home it was a totally different flower bed! 

With me being gone he had the opportunity to get rid of one of the plants that I wanted to keep!!! Kristian, Andrew, Leah, Laura and Mia all agreed that it was an awful looking plant/tree and decided that while I was gone they would get rid of it!!! I loved that plant/tree, whatever it was, because it looked so sad and miserable! haha 

Kristian was ready to take the one in the corner, just under the bird tree, out too. I managed to safe its life, at least for another week!

Now the big question is - what do we do with the flower bed. My friend Rhona is helping me with this, she is at this time, figuring out what we should buy for the flower bed, but now Rhona you have to hear the latest!!! Kristian just wants to sow grass!!!! Maybe put down a few more tiles so that the path under the window is wider and then just make a little flower bed by the fence and grass on the rest. What do think Rhona?  What do you others that read this blog think??? (please feel free to leave a comment!)

Should we sow grass? Should we keep the big flower bed? Should we make a smaller flower bed? Should we just put down more tiles (what is the English word?? Is it tiles? In Danish it is fliser and we have loads of them piled up against the garage wall that we can just use.)

So we are thinking about different ideas these days and have absolutely no idea what we should do. I think we maybe should just keep the big flower bed, but yet not totally sure.  I am not really a garden person. I would rather just sit and read in it instead of work in it! 

(Having said that, if you Rhona, have drawn up a plan for the big flower bed I will gladly use it! Then the problem is solved...we keep the big flower bed! :-)


He also got the flower bed just outside our front door cleared up too and the drain pipe fixed. All in all a very productive weekend! 

Today Kristian, Leah and I have free, but poor Andrew has to go to college. It is Constitution Day and it has been so wonderful to be able to sleep long when I usually am up at 6am! 

It is also Father´s day today so Leah and I have a wee surprised planned for Kristian! (And my thoughts are with my dad who was a really wonderful dad!) 

The sun is shining and it looks like a beautiful day so good morning to you all. It is time to leave this warm cosy bed and start the day!