Ice- Hockey...

For the first time in my life I went to see an ice-hockey game early this morning. A boy in our street plays and today M. and I went to see all the action in person. He is the only goalie on their team so he was very busy, but not too busy because they won 2-0!

Great fun to see all these different sports here in The States. A month or so ago I saw a Middle School wrestling competition (another neighborhood boy), also a first! It was just before I started my blogging so I didn't take any pictures of the 'fun' outfits... (teehee)

In other news: C. and G. made it home at 2am this morning and C. is still in his pj's of course. He looked like he was going to be sick from exhaustion when he arrived home, but he seems a lot better now. Today is a day off for him, tomorrow back to the homework 'game'. (definitely not a game for them with their serious amounts of 6 days-a-week of homework...) The Jazz Band came 2nd by the way. They won last year but this year the competition seemed a lot higher. Still great though, second place...

Time for a cup-a-tea!

Pillow Talk...

Two more pillows for my stash. For now they will go in the TV room but they would fit perfectly outside as well of course with the ones I made a couple of days ago. Trying to add some 'cooler' colors to my very 'warm' interior...

Bit of a dull day today. My Little Bit lesson was cancelled for me (the therapist was out), it is misting outside and C. is all the way down south (4 hours drive) at a Jazz Festival Competition with the school's Jazz Band. It is very cool of course that the kids have such opportunities, but it always feels empty when one of our cozy four is missing... He should be back sometime tonight though!

No plans for the weekend which is a bit strange, but that leaves us open for lots of possibillities. Maybe we'll go into Seattle, we haven't been for months! Fremont has lots of fun little shops, I just have to get to know them a bit better. I'll let you know if I've found any worth mentioning!

News update: The Jazz Band made it through to the finals and now have to perform at 8pm as well. Predicted arrival time: 1:30am! 

I know what C. will do all day tomorrow: SLEEP!

Poor G., he has to pick him up from school....

Little Bit...

Please click on the following link and it will take you to a fantastic interview with the famous Mariners'  baseball player John Olerod and his wife who have their daugther ride at Little Bit: http://www.king5.com/new-day-northwest/John-and-Kelly-Olerud-Changing-Lives-Bit-by-Bit-114741254.html
This is where I volunteer twice a week, for those of you not in the know...

Huset...

Oh my, I just checked out the site where you can buy Marianne Westman's things here in The States and oh boy (I'm still out of breath) they sell AWESOME things!!!!
Click here quick: http://www.huset-shop.com/

More Marianne Westman....

I couldn't resist, I just had to make you another collage...

Marianne Westman Design...

Marianne Westman Picknick design reissued

There's a lot of classic 1950s and 60s designs being re-issued at the moment with Marianne Westman's Picknick another one to add to that long list. 

Picknick was originally launched in 1956 and shows a variety of Scandinavian food stuffs laid out as if for, you guessed it, a picnic. The sketchy depiction of the food is typical for the period and still looks fresh and appealing today.

That's good news for Almedahls who've been given the licence to reproduce the design. As well as the tray shown, it's available on a cutting board, a pot stand, a tea towel and a canvas bag. The range starts at $16 for the tea towel while this serving tray costs $36. 

Buy it from Huset

(from www.retrotogo.com)

I just found out about this most beautiful ceramic ware and am so excited! As you can see I used it for my background a couple of days ago... It really reminds of my youth. I'm not sure if my mom owned something from this line or something that looked like it. I happen to own this dish but have nothing else. Something to start saving for!

Breakfast Please...

This is what I have for breakfast every single day for years on end now: a fat-free banana yoghurt smoothie with ground flax seed. It tastes great every day, it fills me up until lunch and it is healthy to boost as well. Today I also added a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice:

And I made some yoghurt as well. The cost of yoghurt here is very high: $3.49 for a pot containing 32oz or almost 1 liter! We have a small yoghurt maker and this is what goes in: 3 cups of non-fat milk (heated up for 3 minutes), 1/2 cup of yoghurt, 1/3 cup of milk protein powder. Let it sit in the machine for 12 hours et voila!

As you can see I'm having a lot of fun with PhotoScape these days! I will just share with you what I'm wearing today (self-made skirt, purple leggings from Old Navy and thrifted Doc Martens) and then I'm off to find some fun and not too boring birthday cards for friends and family. The selection is rather limited here, since I don't live in the city...

Cheerio!

Happiness = Polkadots!

Yay, finally a productive day and the sun is shining to boost spirits even more!
Today I made four pillows, fixed two other pillows and made three check book covers and it is only now lunch time. Not bad at all.

I'm going to make myself some lunch now with a slice of that nice bread I baked last week and then I'm off to do some stuff in the garden, looking for more Signs of Spring!

PS Yesterday i bought myself some bulbs (2 daffodils and 1 crocus) and a cute little pot at Home Depot. I also made a fabulous beet, carrot, cabbage, cilantro and tangerine salad that was very colorful and tasty...

My Sewing Mojo is BACK!!! (finally...)

Kiwi...

Yay! I've just spent only a couple of minutes on Photoscape (another FREE photo editing program) and look what I came up with!  This promises good things for the future!

The only bad thing is that I am now spending way too much time behind the computer and my right arm is getting sore. A good thing that I have to go to Little Bit again today, a forced break from the computer... (and from Blogging, it is sooo addictive!)

PS The main photo is of our first delivery from Full Circle Farm with lots of yummie organic food. G. and I have really enjoyed all the unfamiliar (and familiar) veggies in there. The kids not so much, but they're old enough now to realize they can eat anything  we put on their plates and will not die from it...



Yippieyayay!

I'm spending a lovely morning trying to figure out this Picasa program. I came across these pictures of last July when M. and I went on a three-hour horseback riding trek near Moab, Utah. That day was rather overcast which was great since it had been 106F over there the day before and we had to wear jeans and boots... (44C!) Three hours of horseback riding was a bit long though: I could hardly get off the horse and I truly had a cowboy gait for the next half hour, not even mentioning the muscle ache for the next two days. M. of course never felt a thing and had a great time. Oh to have a youthful body...


Otherwise this morning I have Lisa Nilsson coming through the loud speakers, have done two loads of laundry, vaccuumed downstairs and have even wet-cleaned the wooden floors! I've also looked up some beet recipes and made a list of things I could sew if I felt like it. (not quite yet, but maybe later) keeping busy as best as I can, anything to not fall into that death trap of a January depression again...

PS How do you like my Signs of Spring photos on the left? I've added a LOMO-effect to them and rounded edges...

Another try...

I've been tweeking this picture (cropping and color effects etc) and this is what I came up with. I'll have to play around a bit more to get used to the Picasa program, but not bad for a first try...

I hope you're all having a nice Sunday afternoon? :-)

Picasa try-out...

I'm trying out new technical thingies with my photos, again, please bear with me...

Klompen Part Deux...

With my posting about Klompen still fresh in my memory, I came across this post at Josien's blog  this morning and just had to show it to you here! She is going to run/ snow shoe a race in Sweden sometime soon in these wooden shoes!!!! She has added lots of foam padding inside, because I tell you, those things are not that comfy. Although come to think of it, I did spent a whole summer (in my much younger years) wearing them without socks on, so I guess you can get used to them.

Anyway, I think it is Awesome Josien! :-)

You can find her blog here:

(http://natuurlijkzweden.blogspot.com/)

Klompen...

Yes, we have  quite a nice little collection of Dutch wooden shoes, don't you think?

The black ones we use once in a while but the colored ones don't fit anyone anymore...

They make nice home decorations though!

Utrecht...

This is the last town I lived in when I was still living in The Netherlands. It is located about 30 minutes south of Amsterdam. In the 4 years there I think I must have moved 4 times. The last location was in Wittevrouwen, for those in the know.

Everything was either walking or bicycling distance. I went grocery shopping almost every day since you can’t carry a lot on your bike or whilst walking. Fortunately we had small neighborhood grocery right underneath our building and we also had the butcher and fresh vegetable guy in the same street.

I don’t know if those small family shops are still there or not. I guess I will find out when I go visit again this summer. (it has been 6 years!)

I don’t really suffer from homesickness (I left NL in ’89). Because of modern day technology I probably have more contact with everyone there now than 20 years ago. But I do miss all the old buildings and the history of it all. (and the food!!!)You just don’t get much of that here in the USA…

PS Photos borrowed from www.weerfotos.nl

Fonts...

I’m trying out some new formatting stuff using Word. I find the offered fonts for the postings rather limited. Let’s see if this cutting and pasting works…

And indeed it does! Now I'll write my posts in Word first and will then transfer it to this spot.
In the mean time, the sun is shining (after the 30 hours of pouring rain we had yesterday) so I'd better get out there! :)

Filmjölkslimpa Recipe...

Foto: Fredrik Sandin Carlson

Färdigt på: 1 tim 

Ingredienser

 4.5dl filmjölk            <buttermilk, karnemelk>
 1dl mörk sirap            <dark corn syrup,  ?  >
 1dl vetekross             <wheat oats,tarwe kernen>
 1dl rågkross              <rye oats, rogge kernen>
 1dl havregryn             <oatmeal, havermout>
 2.5dl grovt rågmjöl       <rye flour, roggemeel>
 3dl vetemjöl              <wheat flour, tarwemeel>
 1dl linfrön               <flaxseed,lijnzaad>
 1dl solrosfrön            <sunflower seeds>
  1.5tsk salt              <1 1/2 teaspoon salt>
 1.5tsk bakpulver          <1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder,

                             bakpoeder?>
 1.5tsk bikarbonat         <1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda,  ?  >
 2tsk brödkryddor          <2 teaspoons bread spices (fennel&

                            anise, brood kruiden venkel & anijs>
 1dl hasselnötter          <hazelnuts>
 1dl torkade fikon         <dried figs, gedroogde vijgen>
 1dl russin                <raisins>

Gör så här

1. Sätt ugnen på 200 grader.  <oven 400F>

2. Blanda filmjölk och sirap i en bunke. <mix the buttermilk and the syrup in a bowl>

3. Skär bort kvisten från fikonen och hacka dem och hasselnötterna grovt, blanda med de torra ingredienserna och filmjölken. <cut of the fig tails, cut the figs and the hazelnuts in small pieces and mix them with the other dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture>

4. Lägg ett bakplåtspapper i en avlång brödform så att pappret sticker ut över kanterna. <layer parchment paper in the bread pan so that the paper sticks out over the sides>

5. Fyll formen med smet, strö över lite grovt rågmjöl och grädda brödet i cirka 45 minuter. <fill the pan with the dough and add a small amount of rye flour over the top. The loaf goes in the oven for 45 minutes...>

I'm not a 100% certain about all the right terminology but I think you guys can figure it out.

Here are some pictures of the oats and syrup.(sorry, the quality of these pics isn't so great...)

We bought our syrup at Ikea...

Also I didn't use figs but dried dates in my recipe and I also substituted pecans for hazelnuts.

As long as you use the right amounts of everything, I think you will be fine.

Let me know how this recipe worked for you ok?!

PS I found the recipe on this blog: http://www.jordgubbarmedmjolk.blogspot.com/

Filmjolkslimpa...

This morning I baked my first loaf of bread EVER and it tasted SO GOOD!!!

It has  buttermilk in it and oats and barley and sunflower seeds, pecans, raisins, dried dates, rhy flour, whole weat flour and lots more super healthy and delicious stuff, but no yeast which made it so tempting for me. (yeast 'scares' me...)

I found the recipe on a Swedish blog,I just have to check which one it was again.

I will translate it for you guys but that will have to wait until later, since I'm off to Little Bit again.

In the pouring rain I might add. The weather is once again truly disgusting. (excusez mes mots...)

Inspiration, or lack there of... (off?)

I've been finding myself in state of lacking inspiration lately.

Before X-mas I was super busy in my head, sometimes working on five projects at a time, but now not so much.

Fortunately I just came across this , for me new, website called Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/).

I'm not quite sure yet how it works exactly but I think people can sort of make inspirational design walls on line to share with everyone and anyone.

I have to spend a bit more time on it but it looks like a good place to come up with new stuff!

Here are a few random things that I borrowed from there:

I especially liked this saying below.

I think we could all do with this 'lesson'...

(I do anyway)

Sunshine & Sunglasses...

I still can't believe it but we actually had some sunshine peeking through just now.

A good thing I forced myself outside
(I was in one of those moods)

and took myself for a long walk along the river.

 I came across this awfully cute little lizard in the forest and later I met a black and a white llama, two donkeys and four emu's.
 Several horses were out in the fields as well and I heard a red-tailed hawk's whistle high up in the air.

Afterwards I found just a few
Signs of Spring in the yard...

...and I was even able to sit outside for a bit with the latest Martha Stewart Living issue: not bad at all!

Header Inspiration...

As you can see I've been working on

a new header.

The background behind the text is not quite white enough but I'll have to wait for my hubbie to help me with that...
(scanner etc)

I was inspired by the old handwriting worksheets and so I made one of my own!

I also love this French one.
(now that I'm having a closer look at it: is it made in cross-stitch??? Yay, more inspiration for another possible project!)

While doing some brainstorming on 'cow' materials I also came across these road signs. This first one is my favorite, but I also like the other ones...

Well, since our own 'CowRoad' is still flooded, I am now going to find another way out to Little Bit. It is Tuesday again after all...

More Flooding...

I hope I'm not boring you guys with all these flood pictures but it has been (and still is) truly amazing over here.

All our west-ward routes have been cut-off so we either have to go all the way north or all the way south to get anywhere.

In reality that only means another 10 minutes extra, but that does mean that most of our trips take around 45 minutes one way: no fun!

The river is just about to crest but then it will take days for it to go down to more exceptable levels.

Patience is a virtue!

Flooding...

I was just checking the traffic cams in our area and this is what I found:
both pictures are taken on either end of the Valley so the top one is on the west side of the Valley and the bottom one is of that same road but then on the east side of the Valley.

I don't foresee us using that road
anytime soon!

We do have to go west though several times today so it will be another adventure to get there...

Sunday Afternoon...

Wow, look at these temperatures!

Definitely a Sign of Spring isn't it?

First I did some major cleaning in both the linen and the games/puzzles cupboards, some reading and a nap in between and then a wonderful hour outside in the yard where I did some weeding, and snipping and just plain enjoying the balmy fresh air.

I noticed several plants coming back to life already, another Sign of Spring!
(and dirt underneath my finger nails)

Now I'm back inside (4:45pm and it is dark) and I'm enjoying this (see below)
and why not?

 No school tomorrow since it is Martin Luther King Day and with all these nice temps I actually felt like having
a summery drink...

Skol!

Organic Food...

How exciting: we have just signed ourselves up for a bi-weekly delivery of a family sized box of organic fruits & vegetables at our local organic farm!

The farm is called Full Circle Farm.

This is what will be in the first box which I will be picking up this coming Wednesday:

Roma Tomatoes, Organic - 1.5 pounds

Chioggia Beets, Organic - 1.5 pounds
Spinach, Organic - 1 bunch

Cilantro, Organic - 1 bunch
Cremini Mushrooms, Organic - 0.66 pound
Bunched Carrots, Organic - 1 bunch
Green Leaf Lettuce, Organic - 1 bunch
Rainbow Chard, Organic - 1 bunch
Satsuma, Organic - 8 each
Kiwi, Organic - 6 each
D'anjou Pears, Organic - 5 each
Pink Lady Apples, Organic - 6 each

They provide recipes as well for each box, since there might be some veggies or fruits in there that you haven't used before.

(like persimmon?)
Local and Healthy: I love it!

A Quick Tour of the Valley...

My private chauffeur and I decided to go on a quick tour of the valley this afternoon before the rain set in again, just for you!

All of the pictures, beside the ones from the Falls, are taken within a 5 minute drive from our home.

Enjoy!

Tolt River Bridge.

View from the hanging bridge toward the Cascade Mountains.
In the foreground you see the X-Mas tree farm where we cut our own tree every year.

A farm very close to the river.

Tolt River Bridge momentarily open...

Snoqualmie Falls

Salish Lodge on top of the Falls. This is where they filmed Twin Peaks!

Local organic farm...

16!!!

Happy Birthday to our little/ big man:

16 today!

 

 

Signs of Spring 2011

Yes! I'm joining a whole group of mainly Swedish bloggers in showing you the first Signs of Spring this year!

 I've followed these postings for a few years now and always wanted to join in, but never had a blog of my own.

Now I can!

We're starting the first of March and hopefully I will actually have something to show you by then, since right now the garden looks like a swamp....

PS. Two of the main roads out of our village have been closed already because of water over the roadways. More rain is coming!

A Present...





and back...



Front...



 This week I made this hot-bag present for a fellow Little Bit volunteer, her birthday is this Sunday.

We have been working together for nearly three years now and we always have lots of fun together and we can especially laugh about the different fears we have with some horses...

 Happy Birthday Patty!

(I know she reads this blog once in a while...)

On to other news: it looks like our area will get flooded again this weekend.

I just drove on one of our main roads (one that goes out first usually) and the water was right at the side of the road.

Much of the fields are flooded already and with the continuous rain in the forecast it is just bound to happen.

Oh well, we finally have a generator now in case the power goes out and our pantry is always stocked so I think we will survive once again.

Pretty exciting though nevertheless!

Have a great weekend!

 Ours will be spent celebrating our son's

16th birthday!!! (how did that happen???)