No Silver Envelope this week.....

...but lots of other things have been going on.

Last Saturday we spent the whole day with Kristian´s mum. She fell a few weeks back, she was starting to recover and was doing well, when she fell again. She ended up in hospital for a few days but was sent home. At home she was in terrible pain and so she was sent for an x-ray, it was then they discovered that she had a broken bone in her lower back along with 3 slipped discs. She is home but still in pain and can´t do too much. 

We were her hands and feet last Saturday. We cleaned, dusted and shopped for her. Whatever she told us to do we did. We off course also had time to eat cake and chat. We always have time to eat cake and chat!! :-)  We had a lovely day with her.

Before long it was Monday and a new week had begun. It´s been a busy week but a good week. 

Tuesday evening we had our neighbour down for dinner. He lives above us, however he is so quiet that we often forget there is someone living above us. I made a delicious lasagne (even if I say so myself!) and served it with a salad . We had a really good evening chatting with him.


I love to read and am forever downloading books to my Kindle!! Over the last few weeks I have been reading and studying about the second coming of Christ....the blood moons etc. All very exciting and interesting. I also started a fiction book by JoJo Meyers which I am really enjoying. 

However on Wednesday at work I saw a book in the library that caught my attention. It´a Danish book, the title is De Sidste Timer, which translates The Last Hours. It is a collection of letters written by Danish Freedom Fighters of World War II hours before they died. It is their last letters home to their family and friends before their execution. Each of them knew they were going to die. Many knew the exact time. They all only had a few hours left on this earth. 

Even though I have enough books to read I couldn´t resist borrowing this and taking it home to have a read. 

Oh my what a book!!! I thought it would be a good idea to read a few of the letters at the end of dinner to Kristian and the kids. I told them about the book during dinner and as soon as we were finished eating I started to read the first letter from one of the men to his mother. I only read about 3 lines and I couldnt read on! I was sobbing my heart out! Andrew had to take over. It was soooo sad!! 

The next letter was a man writing to his wife and son, and so it went on. 

The others cleared the table and left but I couldn´t put the book down. I was transported back in time to the 1940s. I sat at the table by candle light, tears rolling down my cheeks and got to know these young men. These were real men, many of them only 20 or 21 years old and because of what they did I have the privilege to live freely today. It really touched my heart. After about 45 minutes I couldn´t read anymore. I was exhausted from crying. My eyes were burning and my head was aching. I needed to get to bed!

Thursday my crazy friend Anne came by with her wee son. I arrived home from work and Anne shorty after me. We ate some cake and had a good chat. Then Kristian arrived home and Ann´s husband Peter came from work. We ordered chinese food and had a cosy evening chatting and catching up. Peter and Kristian talk even more than Anne and I do!!! It was a great evening. They left around 8.15pm so their wee son could get to bed, he still had school on Friday.

Today we were at a funeral. When I came to Denmark almost 25 years ago there was a wonderful man leading our church at that time, his name was Hauge. He was a warm, kind man that was on fire for God and it was his funeral we attended today. He was 83 years old and had had a great life. He touched so many lives and you could see evidence of that today. There must have been at least 300 people at the funeral. It was a beautiful service, a real celebration of this life. It was really special for Kristian and I to see sooo many people that we haven´t seen in 15 or 20 years. There was a lot of talking and catching up. 

Kristian´s sister Hanne and her husband Flemming were at the funeral too. When it was finished it was near dinner time so we invited them back to share some of ours. They said yes and so we, once again had guests for dinner. It was sooo cosy and we just enjoyed the evening together on the sofa watching TV.

Envelope number 4!!

So on Friday Kristian got silver envelope number 4. {If you´re wondering what on earth silver envelope number 4 is, you will need to check out the post before this "Silver hair and romance"}

I had the date idea planned for a few weeks. I just needed to get all the stuff in. The idea was to go back in time and have a 1920´s night at home.

 I love dancing and I love all the old dances...waltz, foxtrot, jive, swing etc...not that I can dance any of them. For years I have been asking Kristian to go to dance lessons to learn to ballroom dance. He has totally refused because he can´t seem to co-ordinate his feet, hands and all the other things you are meant to be doing. I had thought about booking a private lesson with a dance teacher but knew he would hate that. So I decided our date night would be a night at home, learning from youtube, to dance one of the dances from the 1920s. This I knew he wouldn´t mind and would think was fun!

So I was waiting to see which evening the kids would be out and we would have the house to ourselves so we could act like a couple of idots! That night came Friday evening (31st October) - no kids were home and I could put my plan into action.....

Kristian got his envelope which explained what was going to be happening, that we were going back in time in my time machine and he would find out what year when he got here (I know I should be locked up!!) 

Before Krisitan arrived home from work I had a lot to do!!!  I left work, a woman on a mission. First thing was to get the food in. Our butcher does these delicious ready made meals (just to be heated in the oven) so I went by there and got our main course. Then I went to the supermarket to buy stuff to make the starter and a quick visit to the bakery had the dessert sorted!

Then I needed to get our costumes ready. I drove to the outskirts of Copenhagen to a fancy dress shop but half way there realised that it was a bad idea to do that on a Friday afternoon. It was rush hour and the traffic was totally wild! Anyway I got the costumes and got home, just 20 minutes later than I had hoped.

Then there was the decorating of the living room. I got down our Christmas boxes and got all the lights we had to put around the dining room. What a job!! Why do I never pack the lights down properly??!! They were a mess, totally tangled in each other so by this time I was getting a little stressed. I rang Kristian to tell him the time machine was playing up and he first had to come home at 7pm!!

This gave me a little extra time and was just what I needed. I got the house ready, the dinner sorted and even had time for a shower! It was then into my costume to look the part....a woman from the 1920s. I was having a blast!

When Kristian came home I welcomed him at the door looking nothing like I usually do. He had such a laugh and totally got into the fun of it too. I had all his clothes ready in the bathroom so he could look the part of a 1920 gangster.

We had a delicious meal together and loads of time to talk. Then after the main course it was time to learn to dance. I found the videos that would teach us to dance like professionals! haha It was a lot harder than we thought but it gave us both such a laugh. In the end we gave up and just spent some time dancing around the diningroom like a couple of idots! But we sure had fun!

The evening ended with a film which we fell asleep to on the sofa! haha We are not as young as we used to be! But we had a great evening and another great memory was made!! 

(Kristian made some short video clips throughout the evening which he put together to a short film......)

Silver hair and romance.....

My hair is not the only thing going silver around here. Our marriage is turning silver too! 

On the 1st September 2015 we will have been married 25 years! I just can´t get my head around that!! It has gone by soooo fast! 

I can honestly say they have been great years, and so I wanted to celebrate that! I wanted to do something different....something special, something to surprise Kristian and make him smile. 

After talking to a friend about it all, she gave me the perfect idea!  

Want to know what it is? Ok, here it comes (you might need a bucket cause it gets a bit romantic!)

On the 1st September this year, we went out to dinner for our 24th anniversary. Here I gave Kristian a silver envelope. In it was a letter explaining that from the 2nd September 2014 (the next day) we would be going into our 25th year as a married couple. 

The letter explained that over the course of the next 12 months Kristian would get 25 silver envelopes from me. I went on to explain that he would have no idea when or where these envelopes would arrive. They would suddenly appear and would contain surprises. Some would be small and silly, others rather big!! All the surprises would be someting special to help us remember our 25th year together. 

To say Kristian was happy with this idea is an understatement! 

Now the hard work began for me. I had to start planning all the ideas for the 25 envelopes! It was actually no hard task! I LOVE things like that. Before long I had gotten myself a notebook and filled it with pages and pages of ideas!! 

Kristian was expecting some envelopes to appear sometime soon and before long I had the first one ready for him. 

He had been out go-cart training and when he came home, (around 8pm,) there was a silver envelope attached to the front door.....

The note inside said he had to meet me on the sofa at 9pm.. Here he would be given more information about the evening and another silver envelope. 

So exactly at 9pm, Kristian was on the sofa. I had cake, coffee and candles all ready. 

He was given a note explaining what would happen. We were going to have a quiz. Only if he could answer the questions correctly would he receive silver envelope number 2.

The quiz questions were about things in our past...memories we had made. Lucky for him he got the questions right and so envelope number 2 was given to him.

This envelope contained tickets to hear Bryan Adams in concert in Berlin! Kristian was sooo shocked!

 (We listened to Bryan Adams the whole time we were on our honeymoon in Donegal, Ireland. His cassette tape was our faithful companion in our car and as we drove up and down the hills of Donegal we sang our wee hearts out to him! So not only do we like him and his music, but Kristian has also wanted to go to Berlin for a while now....so here I was killing 2 birds with the 1 stone! )

So our date night on the sofa was to plan the trip to Berlin. Should we drive there? Should we fly? Should we stay 1, 2 or 3 nights? Where should we stay? We had an exciting night planning it all, and we ended up going to bed far too late! But we got everything planned!!

So envelopes 1 and 2 have been given. (Although we still have to experience Berlin in December.)

A few weeks later Kristian found envelope number 3 on his pillow. It was given a few weeks before the event. (He should have only gotten it on the day of the event but because I couldn´t keep it to myself any longer I gave it to him two weeks early! haha) 

It was a night out to hear the band Mezzoforte. Kristian LOVES them. When I lived in Ireland and Kristian in Denmark we made cassette tapes to each other.(Those were the days before internet and skype!)  Kristian always played Mezzoforte music as background music while he chatted away to me on the tape. 

So Kristian got his third silver envelope and read the letter. As soon as he read the clues in the letter, he guessed who it was we were going to see. He was sooo excited!!! We looked forward to our date night for 2 weeks, so it was actually good I gave him the envelope early.

Mezzoforte´s concert was last Friday and we had a fantastic night. Kristian invited me out to dinner before the concert, which I off course accepted!  Delicious food, good company and a brilliant concert - such clever musicians! What more could a girl ask for. Another memory made and cherished. 

                      (The concert. We sat at table 67)

Check out Mezzoforte.....

Envelope 4 is now ready to be given....No I am not telling you what it is..not until after the event! What I will say is that it´s an evening that I am sooo looking forward too! 

I´ll keep you posted! :-)

I´d nearly forgotten......

...how to work this blog!!!

Its been sooo long since my last update that I couldn´t even remember how to log in! (but as you can see I worked it out in the end!)

So here I am again! Back for another update. Its been 3 months or so since my last post, so this is well overdue!! Sit back, relax and get ready for a mega update!! 

So where do I start? I think I´ll go back to the summer holidays. Summer has come and gone - it all went by sooo fast. We had a lovely summer. It was spent here at home. We wanted to just stay here this year and enjoy the nature on our own door step. We were tourist in our own area and we enjoyed every minute of it.

We spent some days lazying about here in the garden, reading or going walks. Other days we went on trips. The weather in Denmark was fantastic.

We went to the Folk Park...

I wonder if it was the same man that built our house??

We went and explored areas of Copenhagen that we had never seen....

We went across to Sweden (twice) and had a great time there......

We found a subway!!!

I even went gray for a few days! 

We also explored the castles close to home. We explored some new restaurants and also spent time with friends and family. Sara and Christian came for a weeks holiday and it was great seeing them.

Out with friends.....

Some cosy evenings at home.....

The whole family together 

(with Camilla - Andrews girlfriend, and Christian - Sara´s boyfriend)

We had some great food....

In the middle of everything we found time to do a make-over of our bedroom. Our bedroom was soooo boring. Just a desk and a bed in it...no pictures, no colour, no atmosphere. I wanted to go for an old looking room....a bit Swedish, a bit like something from Anne of Green Gables. Here´s the result....

Before picture

 After pictures

I also made a sign for our bedroom wall....

It was a lovely summer holiday just hanging out at home, however one evening we got a sad phone call. 

My Aunt Kathleen (dad´s sister) died just at the end of our holidays. 

My Aunt Kathleen was a wonderful person. 

She was the kindess person you could meet. 

She would do without just so you could have. 

She would give you her last pound coin if you needed it. 

She just had a heart of gold. 

She was a person who was content. 

She would never complain and she was thankful for whatever she had. 

She loved reading and we enjoying sharing books and discussing things we had read. 

She was funny and I always loved seeing her when I went home to Ireland.  

When I went home we always went out to eat. I always got fish and chips,  she always got a pastie! 

I am soooo glad I got home in June and got to spend time with her. I found these photos on my phone and I am soooo thankful to have them of her and our last time together in Belfast. I know she wouldn´t swap places, she is home with Jesus but I do miss her.

In September we had loads of birthdays.....Kristian, Leah and Sara.

 So September went with buying presents, and organising parties.

For Kristian´s birthday we invited all his brothers and sisters and their other halves over for a BBQ. We had such a great evening with them.  

Leah had her girl friends from school over for a pizza and film night one evening. Then the next day our neighbour Laura and her daughter went out with us for ice cream. Finally on her birthday she invited her Granny Rasmussen and boyfriend Lasse out to eat with us. 

Since Sara isn´t at home anymore I didn´t need to organise a party for her (thank goodness - I´m getting too old for this!) Sara and Christian went to Berlin the weekend of her birthday. Her Christian had a birthday a few days before so they wanted to celebrate their birthdays in Primark in Berlin! haha

So thats the big update over for this time....Phew!!! 

Lots happening AGAIN.....

Since last I blogged we have been busy, busy, busy!!

Near the end of May we had some friends visit from Ireland. They arrived on a Thursday afternoon and went home again the following Tuesday. We had a fantastic time with them. Lots of catching up with each other and loads of laughing.You just can´t beat the Irish sense of humour! Kristian fits right in with it too and is just as happy to have people visiting from Ireland as I am. (With the accent he has you would think he was born and reared over there!! haha)

A few days after they left I headed to Ireland. It was time to go back and face visiting my homeland for the first time without dad.  It was hard. I landed in Dublin and it was raining.....lashing down! Just how I love it and all I could think about was getting home to Dad´s place to sit on his sofa and make some hot soup. Even though it was hard it felt sooo good to be back. I haven´t been back for over a year and I felt sooo at home again, like I´d never been gone.

Getting off the plane I took the bus to Banbridge were some of our good friends picked me up. I spent the night with them in Dromore. They spoiled me rotten and it was lovely to spend the day relaxing with them. On the Friday morning I was given a real treat - an Ulster Fry just like my mums. Sooo delicious! Then it was time to head up to Belfast. I wanted to visit the area where I grew up. I wanted to pop in and visit some of mum and dads old friends, and some "old" neighbours too. It was sooo wonderful to surprise them. 

I was especially glad to see dads old neighbour Ellen. It was hard going past dad´s house again and seeing it look so different. I was so emotional I was thankful that Ellen was home and I could pull myself together in her kitchen over a wee cup of tea. 

By Friday, early afternoon, I was ready to head into the centre of Belfast and check into my hotel. I was staying at the Europa!! (Got a "Deal of the Day" that I couldn´t refuse!)  I couldn´t wait to check it out and I wasn´t disappointed. It was one of the basic rooms but very comfortable. 

I had a wonderful trip to Ireland. The long weekend went by too quickly. I got to relax a tiny, tiny, wee bit but mostly I got to catch up with friends and family. If I didn´t get to see you this time I am sorry. The next time I am over I will try to stay longer and hopefully get to see more people. 

We went on a tour of the city hall. It was sooo interesting and fun. 

 Got to see loads of friends....

And I got to wear the Belfast City Councillors robes when we went on our tour of the City Hall.  They cost 4000 pounds each. All hand made.  I have never had such an expensive piece of clothing on me in my life! 

It was raining when I arrived in Dublin and raining when I left. It was a wonderful trip and I have so many good memories from it. Next time Kristian will have to come along too! 

Talking of Kristian.....he went and bought himself a new car while I was away!! Well not new, new. It´s 3 years old but a better one than he has. He had talked to me about it before I left so I knew he was interested and since he knows all about cars and the financing of them, I left it all up to him. 

I came home from Ireland late Tuesday evening and on the Thursday we went to pick up the car. We were off work and since the car was over on the other side of Denmark we took the bus to Århus - a 3½ hour journey. Sara collected us at the station and we had a cosy afternoon with her and Christian before we went to pick up the car and head home. 

I must say it really is a nice car. Kristian did well there - Automatic gear and built in navigation system....all very posh! 

 At the minute Kristian is on his way to France in his new car. He is going to Le Mans to be a flag man again. So he and his friends should be arriving there this evening - June 9th. The pre-race events start on Wednesday and then Le Mans on Saturday. He should be home again this time next Monday.

Meanwhile we are having a cosy time enjoying the good weather and more holidays. Denmark has so many bank holidays in May and June so we get a lot of long weekends. Today has been one of them and what a glorious day its been - warm and sunny. In fact all weekend has been like that and we have enjoyed sitting out playing games, chatting and drinking hot chocolate. I am so not in the mood to go to work tomorrow.......but in 2½ weeks time I am off again for 4 weeks so I can´t complain.