Minnie is once again ready for some Gibberish fun. All around her the music of summer is playing, the nights are sunny and the roses are in full bloom. It is party time! Want to party with Minnie but don’t know how? You can check out the rulesHERE-
"Escargot is just stinky snails feet!"
You have all week-end so put on your
silly hats people, and help Minnie create a story that makes no sense...
yet does... Come back on Monday to see what Minnie has done with your
creative brains...
Extended deadline so more people can play. I will post the results once I see there is enough of a story to finish.
So here is Minnie's start to some gibberish fun:
Stinky Pink Snails had formed an army in the Bee-Fairy's garden and with weapons dipped in….
Have a great week-end but do try to stay away from pink snails. Looking forward to seeing how this story plays out, like Minnie I am not a huge fan of snails in my garden or on my plate.
View from our terrace on a nice day, which I am hoping for many of this summer
It is going to be a busy summer for me. My sister-in-law who
lives in Australia is visiting her family here in Larvik this summer. My other
sister-in-law who lives in Canada is also visiting, and one week from today my
son is coming to visit and meet his family for the first time. As many of you already
know, I visited him for the first time last October. Now it is his turn to cross
the Atlantic and visit us here in Norway. He has already met his sister, who
traveled to Denver last year, but he will be meeting his brother and my husband
for the first time. I just wanted to let all of you know that because I am busy
preparing for his arrival, and his eventual visit, my blog posts will not be
regular. I will still be blogging and posting pictures whenever I get the
chance, and Minnie has a game of Gibberish still planned for this Friday. Have
a wonderful week every one, and don’t forget to check back every once in a while
to see how our family reunion turns out.
Are you getting any exciting company this summer? Do you
have any travel plans?
Something or another put me in a deep sleep and when I awoke
much later than I am used to, my body felt like it had taken a trip through the
garbage disposal. A tiny bite on my hand that wasn’t there yesterday could be
the cause. Too much sun and sweat while working my way through the weeds of
what used to be my beautiful garden could also be the cause. Renovating our house has cost my garden dearly. The other
day we spent hours putting our outdoor sitting area together. When we were done
and finally sat down with a cup of coffee to enjoy our handiwork, the view of
the garden suddenly became clear.
Living outdoors
What had happened to my beautiful garden? For
a couple of years now, I have been in denial. When we started building an extra
addition on to the house, trees were cut down, the bushes and flowers that
survived were moved, and the lawn was replaced with gravel and building
materials. Weeds and creepy crawlers took over what little was left! There is no way I want to relax in a weed garden, so it is
time to tackle the unwelcome invaders.
Runaway Garden
Weed Attack
Wouldn’t you know that with my elbows up
to weeds full of unseen spiders, snakes, and insects, I am taking the easy way
out today when it comes to making dinner? What's for dinner Mom, that’s right; it is left-over time.
We have been eating a lot of Mexican food lately so I am taking all of it, putting
it in a big pan and calling it Mexican casserole. Chicken, rice, beans, spring onion,
corn, bell peppers, jalapenos, garlic, salsa, tomatoes and a dash of extra
seasonings. What is so great is that this tastes good warm or cold. Serve it
with some good bread or tortillas and not only is the fridge cleaned out but a
good and easy meal is ready when you are. May not look so pretty, but it tastes amazing. If you don't like your food too spicy, sour cream on the side, does the trick. NEVER throw away left-overs, unless
they start to crawl around by themselves. Usually everything you have eaten for
the past 5 days can be stuck together in a casserole or on a pizza.
Mexican Casserole
Enjoy your week-end everyone. Have you been ignoring your
garden? How about left-overs, what do you do with yours? Next Friday, Minnie
and her Gibberish, so make sure to come back and play!
Eye Spy is on a rather unusual journey today. Feeling a bit out of place as a panther suited in pink instead of black, Eye Spy finds itself in a strange world full of magical and often dark places.
Roland Yeomans has once again spun a tale that takes the reader on an amazing journey full of adventure, mystery, and lore through the love/hate and friendships we feel through his characters.
END OF DAYS was first published as BEST OF ENEMIES on May 12, 2012 but the cover and title were soon changed after complaints that the cover to BEST OF ENEMIES was insulting and demeaning to women, which was never the authors intent. Ever heard the saying, "Never judge a book by it's cover!" We all know that the cover and title to a book is VERY important. Still, no matter what cover or title Roland uses, I am a huge fan of his and of his work. His strange, off the wall characters have spell bound me once again.
This time Roland takes us to a unusual school run by the Sidhe in the hurricane Katrina devastated french quarter of New Orleans. It is up to
Alice Wentworth, a Victorian ghoul, a group of misfit
students and human teachers to stop the "End of Days." Mythology and Folklore set in the Gothic stained pages of this book is a true pleasure to read. To find out more and to get your copy GO HERE
To quote a line from the book, "A dreamer is one who only finds her way by moonlight, and her punishment is that she sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Roland Yeomans is a dreamer who writes for other dreamers such as myself.
Have you read any of Roland's books? Have you been to his blog? If you would like to get a visit from Eye Spy's Pink Panther let me know.
It is Monday and you should be nice and relaxed from the week-end. You should be fit for a fight and ready to take on another week. My daughter is taking her final exam today in Norwegian and I am sure she will slay it. She is a fighter and has worked hard to finish High School. That is something that can not be taken for granted here in Norway. So today I am thinking about women who fight hard to get what they want and since it is story day, my choice falls on the mighty Valkyrie.
In Norse mythology the choosers
of the slain are called Valkyries. They are a team of Warrior maidens on horseback led by
feisty Freya and her cat drawn chariot.
If you are a handsome warrior strutting your stuff on the battlefield,
watch out for 40 raving beauties on flying horses descending upon the
pitch. The Valkyries shriek, howl and cause total confusion. Why?
Because they can grab any warrior they fancy, and take him away. There
is only one rule; the bewildered champion must be dead first. So you must fight for your life, because if you fail you could be
scooped up by one of these mighty and deadly beautiful Valkyrie's and
then swooped off to Valhalla which is the Heroes Heaven.There you will
be forced to feast,drink gallons of mead, and fornicate all night.
Sounds horrible doesn't it?
If there is a heaven, what do you think it would be like? Do you ever feel like a Valkyrie? I often feel that way once my husband gets me angry enough.
Me the Mom Bee reading "Just Nonsense" by Melynda Fluery
The week-end is here already and as you can see I am very busy reading my kindle. So if you ask me what is for dinner you are bound to be disappointed.. Mom is staying out of the kitchen today so make yourself a sandwich. That's right, I don't make dinner everyday. Tonight I am going to a summer concert to listen to my husband sing. No he is not in a band, although that would be cool. He sings in a choir. Mr tough guy, body guard, fireman also known to many as "Saw-man" sings in a choir during his free time.
Maybe I will get lucky and get some of this on video, so if there is no video here now come back later for some entertainment. In the mean time enjoy your week-end! Tell me, what are you having for dinner tonight? Do you go out to eat a lot? Do you always make dinner? Do you wish you had a hat like mine?
Rakkestuten Blandakor-"What do you do with a drunken Sailor?" Sorry about the sound quality, but hey....Not bad for a phone...
Today Eye Spy is wearing a pink panther suit and a smile while creeping around the Blogger-sphere and sharing intimate secrets.
There is a blogfest to celebrate the release of Elana
Johnson's second book in a series, SURRENDER, which came out
June 5, 2012. Check out her blog and her book HERE.
So all I have to do for this blogfest is blog about a time
that I did not surrender. That was not as easy as I thought it would be. Thinking about what I should write I discovered that
my whole life has been mostly about surrendering. There I am the first in line, waving
a white flag in order to keep peace. Surrender and sacrifice seem to go hand in
hand as I reflect through the choices I have made in my life.
As a young girl and the oldest of siblings, I made sure my
brother and sisters were taken care of when my parents could not. My father was
always out traveling and my mother did the best she could in a world she did
not belong in. Sports, music, drama were all things I loved in school but gave
up quickly when I found out they had no room in my life. Besides, we moved around
so much that I always ended up starting over again. As a teen-age girl I ended up
pregnant and giving my baby up for adoption. Another form of surrender and
sacrifice because I was convinced his life would be better off with someone
else. My first marriage failed and once again I waved the white flag. I didn’t
fight through the custody battle for my daughter; instead I believed she would
be better off with her father. I went on vacation to Norway and never went back. There have been times in my life that I have
surrendered to drugs, to alcohol, to food, and to any overindulgent thing I
could find in order to escape one thing or another. I have
been a gambler, a workaholic, and I have exercised every muscle in my body through excessive training. I
have even gone from one church to another looking for God. Music, art, and
writing have always been another form of surrender, overindulgence and
sacrifice. These things move like waves through my life. One form of creative
expression washes ashore and another takes its place. I surrender to each one.
This blogfest is about sharing the times you did not surrender,
but maybe surrendering is not always a bad thing. Maybe sometimes we have to
surrender in order to move on.
“Like a tiny boat on the sea
Waves just keep crashing over me
I can fight to make the shore
Or ride the waves and fight no more.”
Don't get me wrong. I admire people who endure and against all odds keep fighting with the same spirit as William Wallace in "Brave Heart." Sometimes we are just not faced with asimple option to a simple choice. Sometimes surrender will still get us where we were meant to be without the fight of getting there, sometimes not. Believing in something strong enough and most of all believing in yourself is a start.
What do I know, after all I am wearing a pink
panther suit. So do you think I am a quitter now ? Far from it, I just choose carefully when to fight. I finished my education in a foreign language at the age of 40, regained my two lost children, and have had two more children, been married for over 20 years, ran a successful business, survived a fire on a cruise boat as part of the crew, have a short story that will be published this fall and I am still writing my book. So many stories! Do you have a story about surrender you would like to share? Never surrender, or surrender, do you believe there is a right time for both?
Check out some of these amazing stories from the "Never Surrender" blogfest.
Stories from Norwegian culture and mythology have always
fascinated me. Every Monday I try to find some of these stories to share with you. Some I find in my own back yard, some I translate from Norwegian
folklore and some are researched online. The stories from Norse Mythology are
based on “The Prose Edda”, an Icelandic collection of prose containing tales
from Nordic mythology, written by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri
Sturluson around the year 1220.
With all the recent attention Thor has been getting in the movies,
I thought it fitting to take a look at Thor’s mother. You know her better than
you might think.
Thor's Mother Jord
Thor is the first son of Odin, father of the Asgardians, but
little is said of his mother. Thor has a
special love for Earth, more so than perhaps any other god. Like his father he
is captivated by the beauty, the strength and endurance of earth. Thor is the protector of earth and it is not
surprising since earth is his birthplace and Jord (Norwegian name for earth) is
Thor’s mother.
In Norse mythology, Jord, also known as mother earth is the
mother of Thor. Jord is a giantess and reckoned a goddess, like other jötnar
(giants) who coupled with the gods. Jord (also known as Fjorgyn, or Hlodyn) is
one of the Aesir, an earth goddess as well as a giant, she was the mother of
Thor and the mistress of Odin. Some say that she was Odin’s first wife but the
interpretations are unclear as to whether that is the case.
According to one
story, Odin sought to father a son whose power would derive from Earth as well
as Asgard, and hence he sought to mate with Jord. Odin created a cave in Norway
where Jord gave birth to Thor. Months after the infant Thor was weaned, Odin
brought him to Asgard to be raised. Odin's wife, the goddess Frigg, acted as
Thor's mother from that time onward. Not until years after his birth did Thor
learn that Jord was his birth mother, and he has been busy protecting her ever
since.
Did you know that by being a creature of the earth, you are related to Thor as well? Do you know where your hammer is, and how often do you use it?
Homemade Pasta with Italian sausage, meatballs and a spicy garlic tomato sauce
It is Friday and I am known for my "Friday Pizza," which I
tend to make out of leftovers. Today however I feel more like pasta. I LOVE
spaghetti and meatballs, actually I just love spaghetti any which way. Have you
ever made your own pasta? It is not so much work, but it is time consuming, and oh
so good! So, “what’s for dinner Mom?” Today
we are going with Pasta. To make pasta you need flour and egg. If you have a
very fine flour “type 00” that is the best, if not then use what you have. Use
100 grams flour per egg, depending on how much pasta you are making. I would
say 1 egg per person, so if you are making pasta for 2 people, 2 large eggs and
200 grams flour. OK, so I am using metric and you might need the American measurements
which are 7 ounces for 200 grams. Make a heap out of your flour on a chopping
board with a hollow well in the middle. Crack your eggs into the hollow and mix
your eggs with a fork gradually adding flour to the eggs. At first it will form
crumbs and won’t look like it will ever come together. Keep working and it
will. Eventually you will have to get your hands in there as well and knead the
mixture. Squash it with both hands and then stretch the dough and fold it back
on itself, give it a little twist and repeat. Keep doing this until the dough
feels smooth. Wrap your ball of pasta dough in cling film and leave in fridge for
about 1 hour, more or less depending on how much time you have. Remove your
pasta from the fridge and flour a rolling pin and chopping board. Roll out to
the required thickness and cut into strips with a knife, whatever size you decide
to use just make sure you cut them as close to the same size as possible. If
you have a machine, go for it. Your pasta is ready. You can now either hang it
to dry or cook it right away in salted boiling water – it’ll only take a couple
of minutes, unlike dried pasta, so keep an eye on it.
Now that you have your pasta, you can do just about anything with it. Eat it with just melted butter and garlic or fresh herbs. Talk about a cheap and delicious meal! You can also get some ground sausage and make meatballs that you can add to a nice tomato sauce . I like to serve my pasta with Italian ground sausage meatballs and a nice garlic tomato sauce, ground Parmesan on top...of course. Now I could tell you how to make the meatballs and sauce but I think the pasta is enough for today. Enjoy your meal whatever it is and have a great week-end! Anyone have something to say about pasta? Norwegians say that potato is king but I beg to differ and prefer pasta any day. Hungry now? I sure am. Here is a little video that will give you the idea. She is sprinkling on a little salt I think, but I don't find it important.
Eye Spy is on the run today with a guest post at A-Z blogging challenge. Social networking is an amazing thing and if you want to find out
how it changed my life forever and the lives of others, pop on over there and
read about it. Many of you have already heard the story, but I never get tired
of telling it. After all, it is one of those happy endings!
Since it is the first Wednesday of the month it is also time
for The Insecure Writers Support Group. No matter how many books you have
written or how famous you are, there is always room for encouragement and
support. That is what this group is all about, and if you are a writer you must
have felt insecure at one time or another. My focus today is time and
the lack of it. How do you choose to prioritize? Setting goals and keeping them is
easier said than done. Something always seems to come along to change my plans especially if I am in the middle of a creative thought (or two). Change of plans and starting
over is something I have gotten
used to. There are not enough hours in the day and sometimes I have to make a
choice. We all do because even though many of us would like to live in a little
“Writing Bubble,” most of us do not. So for all my blogging /writing friends
that I have not managed to get around to as much as I would have liked to…I am
so sorry, time just keeps popping holes in my bubble. My priorities are first family,
then book, short stories, and lastly blogging. What are yours? Do you also
suffer from bubble holes?
Have a great day, and don’t forget to come back on Friday to
see what Mom is cooking for dinner! If you want the pink panther to come around and do an official---EYE SPY---Let me know.
Today is the big book launch for two Cozy mysteries!In celebration they are hosting a Crazy Cozy Blogfest. One fun mystery tour which you can read about here. Make sure you take the whole trail and visit some of the other stories as well! These are the rules:
Come up with a wacky theme, a zany sleuth, a crazy setting for your OWN Crazy Cozy Mystery idea.
Include:
1) Sleuth (age, occupation, maybe a little family info)
2) Sidekick (either friend or foil, but someone who always seems to be around)
3) Setting (town, city, or other sort of place)
4) Theme (go nuts)
5) Twist (be as creative as you like)
Write it up in 150-250 words (so short)--for the blogfest portion
anyway—we want people to be able to read a bunch of these without too
much burden. Keep the traditions in mind, but we are judging on
entertainment value--which we enjoy most, not how realistic it is to
make a best seller. We want people to laugh.
My Story idea is about a gang of thieves working as cooks on a cruise boat, hope you get a laugh.
Cooking with Thieves
As a retired police detective addicted to crossword puzzles,
Kat was not the kind of gal to take things lightly. She was hard as nails, a
penny pincher and not the least bit frivolous. So when she was given a Mexican
cruise from her two children as a birthday present, she had half a mind to give
it to her spinster sister instead.
“It will be good for you Mom. Dad died 5 years ago, and it is
about time you had some fun. You might even meet someone.” They insisted until
she gave in, unaware that she was about to sail off into a ship load of
trouble. A stowaway cat with thieving paws and a nose for danger was not the
kind of friend she expected to meet. When Kat finds herself in the middle of a
mysterious death on board the M/S Fantasy and a crew full of suspicious
characters, her only back up turns out to be a dirty yellow cat with a taste
for gold. Together they uncover a smuggling ring that is run by a gang of
vicious cooks, and in a game of cat and mouse they fight to stay alive.
Chicken was really a rooster that had no legs and enormous
wings, because of that everyone on the swamp wanted chicken to buy a set of convertible skis-water for the summer, snow for
the icy winter on that swamp. Only they didn’t want chicken to use the
skis- they wanted him to fly and pull them across the water, but chicken knew
what lay in those waters…Sharktopus, and it wanted fried
chicken! Chicken was no chicken however but a Butterball turkey with
false wings which would not lift him up. The poor thing
was grounded; the only thing left was a snake in the bushes. Chicken knew how to fight snake and quickly grabbed it by the
tail. Swinging it faster and faster he threw it straight at the Sharktopus and
flew off into the night with his enormous false wings, never to be seen from
again.
Thanks for playing, hope you come and play again soon.
Tomorrow there is going to be a lot of foul play in the air and here we are going to be cooking with thieves. Come back tomorrow for a special stop on A Cozy Mystery Tour.
This Wednesday "EYE SPY" will be guest posting over at A-Z challenge, talking about how social nett working can change lives. Since it is the first Wednesday of the month, that means it is also time for the Insecure Writers Support Group.
Minnie is off to a flying start. Suffering from allergies
but unable to stop smelling the flowers, she is ready for another game of
Gibberish. Want to play but don’t know how? You can check out the rulesHERE-
"Be kind to my chicken!"
You have all week-end so put on your silly hats people, and help Minnie create a story that makes no sense... yet does... Come back on Monday to see what Minnie has done with your creative brains... Oh yeah and before I forget, there is More Nonsensecoming out today. You do not have to be smart to know that stupid is the new thing! Whatever....You liked Just Nonsense, you will love more of it. Not only that but if you like "My" Gutsy Story then PLEASE vote for me HERE.
So here is Minnie's start to some gibberish fun:
Chicken was really a rooster that had no legs and enormous wings, because of that everyone on the swamp wanted chicken to….
