Decorating Gingerbread

Sorry for the lack of postings lately. I've got the flu, and my eyes really hurt when I look at the monitor.... I just hope I can manage to get everything ready for christmas... Most of all I just want to lay down in a dark, quiet room....
Here are a couple of pictures of the girls and my mum decorating gingerbread a couple of weeks back....

Challenges and an award...

I've been challenged by Monica S. I have to write 7 random things about myself, and then send the challenge on to 7 people I would like to know some more about.


Ok, here goes.....


1. We don't have a television. The plan is to buy one, but now we've gotten so used to not having one that there's no rush to get one. When we first moved to Scotland, 9 years ago, we lived without a telly for over two years before we got one.... so this is not a new thing for me. We do have a projector though... so we can watch dvds straight on the wall... which is almost like having a cinema in your own livingroom.... (here you can see the projector in the bottom of the picture.... and the film is on the wall...)
2. I love coffee... mmmm.... I wish my espresso machine would work properly again... I drink my coffe black.... which made most people in Scotland look at me with a very strange look... "are you sure you don't want just a little bit of milk and sugar in it??" Oh... and I loooove cake with my coffee (or without). 3. I've only ever had one boyfriend... he is now my husband. We've been married for 9 1/2 years and we were together for 10 years before we got married! Does that make me sound really old...?? (Photograph by Fotograf Dvergsnes, Kristiansand. You'll have to excuse the bad scan... the photo is not like that in real life) 4. I'm allergic to cats...

5. When we lived in Inverness, Scotland, I used to work in a Fun Factory in a restaurant... This was a kind of indoor play ground where children could play while their parents were having a meal in the restaurant. We also did children's birthday parties, face painting and I was the balloon model expert (you know, making balloon animals and things with those looong balloons)... I worked there for several years even though I had to wear this to work.... (photo: Ramon Stoppelenburg) The uniform was very comfy though... I used to cycle to work wearing this, and sometimes I would go shopping after work wearing this... People would look at me... or rather stare at me, and I didn't understand why... until I realized what I was wearing...

6. I used to play the flute. I played for 19 years, but I haven't playd it the last 9... maybe I should take it up again?? The first 15 years I played in Tveit Musikkorps ,TM (later Tveit Union Musikkorps, TUM). This was a really fun band to play in. I especially enjoyed the Tattoos. I played the piccolo flute when we were doing Tattoos or when we were out marching and the long flute for concerts... I had to stop playing with them when I moved to Oslo.... where I joined Stabekk Janitsjarorkester. I completely stopped playing when we moved to Scotland.

I thought I'd show you a really old photo of me marching with TM... I'm the little one on the left and the photo is from 1986 (don't know who took it... I found it on TUM's homepage)

7. Last one... phew... (this was harder than I thought it would be).... I used to be quite sporty in my younger days... I used to participate in slalom competitions... I've done rock climbing and I've tried diving... I don't do any of these anymore... why? Hmmm.... I don't really know... I enjoyed doing all of them... maybe having small children has anything to do with it...?

This is me diving in Rhodes on my honeymoon...
I want to give this challenge to: Linda, Anne Marie, Ruth, Sipusa, Emily, Lappequri og mamma.

I've got a couple of things from Tofo as well... first this awardThere's a text with this award as well

"The blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearnessin space, time and realationship! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prices or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prices are cut,even more friendship are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eightmore and include this cleverly written text into the body of their awards."

"Denne bloggen investerer i og tror på NÆRHET- nærhet i rom, tid og forhold!"Disse bloggerne er usedvanlig sjarmerende og søte, og formålet er å finne og å være venner.De er ikke opptatt av utmerkelser og selvhevdelse.Vårt håp er at når båndene på disse utmerkelser er kuttet, vil enda flere vennskap ha forplantet seg. Vær vennlig å gi litt ekstra oppmerksomhet til disse!

I'm supposed to give this to eight people, but it's past my bedtime already, and I can't decide to whom I want to give it... so I'll give it to all of my "followers".

Tofo also sent me another award/challenge...

I have to write about 5 things I can't live without...

1. My sewing machine, knitting needles, crochet hooks, stamps and all my other craft stuff.

2. Mascara!

3. I guess I can't say my family since it had to be things... so I'll say my camera because I love taking photos of my girls.

4. Coffee...

5. My alarm clock. I would never get out of bed in the morning if it didn't wake me up... with that said... I just remembered that my alarm clock actually is broken... so I don't have one at the moment... I have to use hubby's clock or my mobile...

Thanks for the challenges and awards. I appreciate it!

An angel is here...

Well... we've reached December already. And I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet.... I've made some though.... but this angel is not one of them.... can't show what I've made for presents before Christmas, can I?

This angel is completely my own design... well, maybe not completely since I've used a pattern from a Tilda book for the wings (I just love the shape of the Tilda angel's wings). This is the only one I've made of these so far, but I'm sure there will be many more.

I had so much fun designing and making her. She has a small bag of rice in the bottom of her skirt to help her stand better. And her arms have no stuffing in them at all...

This is where she's gonna live... In my window sill. I haven't decided if she's just for Christmas or a whole year round angel....

The green thing in front of my window is the shawl I've been knitting on since.... uhh... march? It's almost finished now... just a few more rows to go (I think). I'll write a bit more about it when it is finished... it could be a while though....