Birthday Calendar

...My in-laws have a distant relative who calls and congratulates us all on our birthdays, every year, without fail. She always remembers! I really do admire people like that, that are somehow organized enough to keep track of everyones birthday, and also take the time to call....It is really touching! If I have one resolution for the new year, it is to try to be more like that...And, to that end, I have started building a birthday calendar...(And I really do have to get a move on when it comes to finishing it!. Thus far, people born in February and in October stand the greatest chance of receiving an e-mail or phone from me on their birthday..... But I promise I will post pictures of the other months really soon!)


So.....for friends and family who read this, please update me on when your birthday is! :)

Juletreet

Ahhh! Christmas! I just love watching the kids open their gifts. This year we had some good friends over, and ate a lot of good food.....way too much. I cooked for two days leading up to it, but it was all worth it. I tried making some traditional Norwegian "julemat", so i salted lamb, made rutabago-stew (kålrotstappe), and made a traditional "riskrem" (ricecream directly translated). I think I stirred the rice (cooked in milk) for about three hours, from midnight to 3 am the night before, and then i mixed it with whipped cream. In Norway you buy the "porridge mix" in a bag, and it's done in about 15 minutes, but lacking that here, I did it the old fashioned way. You can also buy the raspberry sauce to go with it in a carton in Norway....I did my own. I mixed a Minute Maid frozen raspberry juice with some potatoe flour, and used only half the water. It actually tastes exactly the same as the "real thing". Delicious! I made a whole lot of other things too....Chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce, a pot roast, rosemary baked potatoes and steamed carrots, yellow split pea soup....Now I don't have to cook a thing for three days I think! :)

From Ålesund and the area around.....

I found all these pictures in Sunnmørsposten online, from the area around where I come from in Norway.....Ahhhhhh....They make me TOTALLY homesick....To smell the air from the sea, and to listen to the waves...

noen til....

and more.....

And some more....

The rest of the cards...

Here are some more of the cards that I made for the United Way sale. Since I had to charge a fairly low price for them, and had to make a whole bunch, they are not the most elaborate ones perhaps, but I still enjoyed making them.