Getting energized

I have been having a really hard time getting around to exercise though I am trying hard to eat healthy.

I have been having a lot of excuses to why I haven’t exercised, I’m too tired, my pain is too strong, my husbands schedule is conflicting too much with mine and the kids’, I am too busy, the weather is too cold and rainy, there is too much pollen, my asthma and allergies are acting up too much, and I am just too lazy.

I have big plans though, but I am procrastinating.

I will have to start again on my journey to run a 5K.

For now I will just look forward to next week when both my husband and Isabel has the whole week off. We are going to have a big girls day out on town going to an art museum and to a restaurant for cake. We are going on a car trip to some place new. We might go hiking. And my husband might even take both kids out by himself to let me have some alone time at home.

I always thought I was an extrovert, but my friends say I am an outgoing introvert. I think they are right. I long for some time alone now.

Gnocchi with pesto and veggie sauce

Last Wednesday was just perfect for eating dinner outside and I chose to make a dinner worthy of Spring.

 

Make a white sauce of 2 Tbsp butter or margarine,  3 Tbsp all-purpose flour and 1 1/4 cup milk. Melt butter and whisk in the flour on low-medium heat. Cook for a few minutes while whisking constantly. Add the milk and whisk till it is very thick and smooth. Add as much pesto as you would like.

Cut up your favorite spring veggies. Mine were asparagus, red and yellow bell pepper and red onion. These take about the same amount of time to sauté.

Lastly boil your gnocchi according to the direction on the bag. Mine usually take about 4 minutes till they are done. Strain and put in a serving bowl. Add the sauce right away and sprinkle the sautéed veggies on top together with some Parmesan cheese and black pepper. 

 

I am the only one who likes tomatoes in the family so after I was done sautéing the veggies I threw some (not sure they are cherry) small tomatoes in the pan, let them get warm and topped my dinner with them.

  

The kids loved this, my husband loved it and I was in heaven.

Linking up to

I’ve kind of procrastinated

As usual on a Tuesday I am linking up with Amy and the rest of the procrastinators at Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia.

The funny thing about writing an anti procrastination post is how I always procrastinate writing it. Actually I did start early this morning when I got up at 5am, but then I realized that I needed some more pictures. Then I took some pictures and misplaced my camera. Sofie kept crying because of her tummy and we had a gymnastics class with MOPS, then there were the house that needed to be cleaned. I have accomplished so many things today except for the one thing on my list that I really wanted to do which was writing this post.

See my stairs. Remember the picture I showed you last week of my stairs? I found the perfect solution for it and I posted how I did it yesterday. See how nice my carry all box looks on my clean stairs. My husband even vacuumed the stairs for me. We have got a lot of use out of the box already and everyone is good at bringing it up and down the stairs, filling and emptying it. Total success.

 

Last fall I bought this shelf for my master bathroom because it was always so annoying not having extra towels in there if I needed one. I wanted a shelf to keep extra towels on in there so I bought this shelf for $8 at Target. It took me almost 6 months to hang it after it took me almost 4 years to buy it.

My stairs has a very small landing and this is where I have kept our stroller and back pack. Not anymore though. The stroller and back pack will both be sold soon and no more will I be storing it on top of my stairs. I will however get some flowers in a flower pot up there to bring some more color there and make it more welcoming.

I redecorated my wreath for my door, but I don’t know if I should keep it on my door or if I should move it to the wall so you see it when you come up the stairs. What do you think?

   

I needed a new canister for the flax meal I am giving Sofie now as it came in a bag and that really didn’t work well. Using contact paper on an old bread crumb canister worked like magic and in 5 minutes I had a beautiful box that is worthy of a front row place on my counter. 

I had this picture on my mantel last you saw it on my blog, but it didn’t have a frame. I found a frame at Joanns yesterday that had had its glass broken. That was perfect for me as I knew exactly what I would use it for. I took some double tape and stuck the picture in the frame. I fit perfect.

 

Now the picture hangs over our master bedroom fireplace. The picture actually belongs to Sofie and I thought this picture of her was perfect as saying “That is my picture mamma, give it back to me now or else…” Love that little girl of mine.

My plans for next week is

• planting the flowers I bought on Friday.
• clean my fridge
• organize papers
• and some more

Next week I will be joining Anna in doing some spring cleaning and organizing for the next few weeks. Come join in with us.

Carry all box for stairs

Most days my stairs looks like a hazard, an accident waiting to happen because of all the things that get left on them. My husband and I leave stuff there to bring upstairs, my oldest daughter sometimes dumps her backpack there and my youngest likes to throw it all over the place.

I decided it was time to try to corral it all in one place or rather in one box. Unfortunately I didn’t have any empty boxes that would fit on the stairs and I really didn’t want to go out and buy a box either. So I decided to make my own.

I used one empty card board box that used to contain wet wipes. Duct tape and shelf liner / contact paper. This project cost me $0 as this was things I already had on hand.

When I came to a corner I would cut in on an angle and fold down under and inside. I also cut holes for the handles and used duct tape to make it stronger and secure the contact paper.

 

I love my new box and I am already looking for more excuses to make more of them.

If you have any questions on how I did this please ask.

Linking up with

Grateful Sunday 17

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I am so grateful for

161. my children enjoying time at church.

162. Sofie starting to enjoy being read for and finding a favorite book in “Would they love a lion?”.

Source to buy it

163. being able to help neighbors.

164. being able to give my best friend a treat when she is going through a hard time.

image credits

165. homemade cream puffs.

166. my little girl who loves going on bike rides.

167. spring finally being here and us being able to barbeque again.

168. my kids illnesses not affecting them much.

169. days of rest.

Source to buy it

170. inspirational books.

Our week in pictures

As usual I kept forgetting to take out my camera to take pictures of our days. Still I did take a few of the kids. Today I went to a library for a dance party for toddlers. I did bring my camera and Sofie was so cute with little pigtails and a skirt on, but I didn’t get a single picture. My friends were there too and they did take a few pictures of me and Sofie and I might be able to get some of them at a later time then.

Anyhow this is a glimpse of our week.

My mom saved a lot of my clothes when I was a kid. This little dress used to be mine and now I get to dress my baby girl in it. Her hair is getting so long now and every once in a while she’ll let me put it in pony tails. Not this day however.

Our everyday routine is to get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth and hair, pack back pack, watch a little TV and then walk to school. Here Isabel is getting her shoes on while trying to see the end of Sesame Street. 

Wednesday was a beautiful spring day and we had our first dinner outside for this season. It is time to put barbeque meals back on the meal planner again. We are loving it.

This Friday was Book character day at Isabel’s school and Isabel chose to be Cinderella. She didn’t want to “stress me out” by having me make her a new costume. She had a Cinderella costume that a friend had given her and all I needed to do was make her hair just like Cinderella has it when she goes to ball. She was so happy with her costume and she actually posed for the camera for once.

 

How was your week?

My Paradise

I am playing catch up today. Having coffee a day late. Actually I don’t really have to catch up on my coffee, I drink it all the time.

Today I want to welcome you to my second home, my family summer house Aanderbakkan. My great grandfather bought the property in the 1800’s sometime and it was very big. He divided the property between his three sons and gave each of his daughters a parcel where they could cut down wood. The oldest son built his own house to the right of this photo and the youngest got a property on the left. My grandfather who were the middle son got the old family farm.

My grandfather and father were both born in this house. It is slowly sliding off of the foundation and my dad is trying to prevent this from happening.

There were no electricity, no running water and no roads out here. To get here we have to use a boat, but my dad has made his own water turbine and we have enough power to run lights, a small TV and recharge cell phones. He has also made is own system for getting running water in the house. He is so clever.

This is the view from our kitchen windows. Isn’t it amazing that people used to live her year round just about 60 years ago. My grandparents and my dad moved from here to the town where I grew up when my dad was 10 years old. They didn’t go back for years, but then they started to spend every summer here and now my parents do the same. They come here as soon as the snow is gone at the end of April or beginning of May and then they go home at the end of September or beginning of October before the snow comes.

These are the mountains that crowns our property. My dad went up to the top last year and I hope he will be able to take me this year.

I have not been here in 8 years and the kids and I will be going this summer and spending at least 1 month with my parent here.

This is the beach. Rocky, yes, but it feels so good on your feet. I actually don’t like sand. My daughter is going to be in heaven collecting rocks, but she is going to be so sad that she can’t bring them all home on the plane.

The rest of the beach looks like this. It is so nice and warm to lay here. I don’t think I can count all the times I have fallen asleep enjoying the sun here. They are also fabulous for drying clothes on when you fall in the ocean by accident…

And our favorite past time hobby while being here. Fishing with my dad. My mom has already ordered the new life vests for the kids and I guess I am getting Isabel a fishing pole for her birthday this year.

   I am so excited for this summer. The kids and I will be spending the whole summer in Norway and it will be wonderful.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed visiting my paradise.