Enjoying the sun.

Last weekend came and went with more of the glorious heat and sunshine so far dominating the Norwegian summer. (Although, there were some rain on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, but I shouldn't complain about that, not with all the sun we've had lately.)

Saturday evening - after Mini'd gone to bed and fallen asleep, mind you - I spent on our balcony with a funny podcast on my ear, a glass of chilled white wine and a crochet project made of leftover cotton yarn. I think I sat there for about two hours, just enjoying some time for myself. (The podcast I was listening to, was Stickpodden, by the way, a swedish podcast about knitting (very funny, and quite interesting). 

Wine, podcasts and sunshine.

 
You can see my reflection in the screen of the laptop (my wonderful, little Mac..). I actually managed to run out of leftover cotton yarn after those two hours, so now I'll have to make something using cotton yarn, so that I'll create some more leftovers (there's a rule, you see, I'm only allowed to use leftover yarn, so starting on a new skein isn't allowed).

Yarn for autuum.

I went to one of the local yarn shops on Saturday (Pickles)and bought some yarn which will be used for new autuum/winter clothes for Mini. I'm thinking a new hat, cowl/neck warmer and mittens, in lovely shades of lime green and turqouise blue. They'll brighten up and stand out a bit, but that's just fine. (Easier to find his things in kindergarden.)

In work..

This is how far along I managed to come on his hat as per last night. I've started the decrease, and hope to have enough of the lime green from that first skein to finish it (so that the cowl/neck warmer can have the turqouise blue as the main color) but we'll see.. I bought more than one skein of each color, so there shouldn't be any problem.

Banana?

One of Mini's favorite movies these days is Despicable Me (we've seen the sequel in the movies) and the little minions that work with Gru (the main character). Well, look who I found stuck to my banana the other day. Quite adorable, don't you think?

***
It's finally (?) raining properly here now. A little bit sad and grey, but after all this sunshine and heat, it'll do good for the plants and grass. They're quite yellow and dry at the moment (there's even been a forest fire warning going around lately).

Oops..?!?

I was working on a new post, but for some reason, Blogger decided that looking was allowed - but not editing.. Might just be the office computer - will try again later (or from home).. 

Any one else experiencing problems with Blogger these days?

***

Hoot-hoot! From Sir Hoots-A-Lot. 

Tasted something new today..

When I went to the store yesterday, I stumbled across something (for me, anyway) new on the shelf for tea/coffee. Lipton Ice Tea, small tubes of powdered tastiness. 

Yumyumyum!

It's really easy to mix. Just take a bottle with 500ml (cold) water (5dl or half a liter), open the pack and empty it's contents into the bottle. Put the cork back on (firmly.. unless you'd want to clean up the mess..) and shake the bottle until the powder is dissolved in the water. Keep the bottle in the fridge (or do as I did, drink the whole bottle as soon as possible, due to yummy tastiness and thirst). 

I've tried both flavors - the pack in the picture contains the lemon flavored one, and the other one is with peach and apricot. 

***

Do you have to try new products when they come in store?

Summer's coming to an end..

Well, the summer vacation, anyway. This week saw me back in the office, while hubby and Mini had the week off. Considering the heated temperatures outside, being in the air conditioned office wasn't too bad - just a bit boring (with all the engineers and people off on vacation, the amount of tasks and work to be done is slightly less normal, and with three of us trying to share the workload - or lack of such - the days ended up being slow and long). 

But! Today's Friday! :D

On Wednesday, hubby and Mini came and picked me up from work, and we drove out to Bygdøy and one of the beaches there, called Huk. It's not a very big beach, but it's got sand and areas where it's nice to sit and bbq, enjoy the sun and the view, and both big and small can enjoy the sea. There were quite a few people there, many with children - and many went for a dip in the water. I don't swim, but waded a bit with Mini, while we were looking for shells.

One of the beach areas on Bygdøy, called Huk.

 I had to laugh a few times while we were there.. a young couple were there as well, and had brought along their tiny dog (about the size of a ball of yarn or something) and this dog was very protective of the beach and the surrounding area. So, every time another dog came walking by with it's owners, this little half-pint of a dog jumps up and starts barking and looking very "this is my beach, you better go now - I'm very dangerous". Or, at least I think that might've been what it thought. Anyway, the funny thing was that suddenly, the other dog wasn't another bag-dog (suitable size to be carried around in a bag.. or pocket..) but a rather big dog (one of them was a half-old retriever puppy) and these larger dogs just stared at the noisy little ball of fur, wondering "what the..?". The look on the big dog's face was just priceless.

Mini loooooves (cold..) hotdogs, and
enjoyed himself on the beach.

 Hubby brought along a small bbq (just a disposable one) and we ate hotdogs and pieces of melon and soaked up some sun and vitamins for a few hours - until we were all tired and warm, and sticky.. Mini didn't want to go home, but fell asleep in the car almost before we could get out of the parking lot, so we took a little tour of the area and stopped by a small shop selling flowers and fruit. They had good prices on strawberries (these are just so ridiculously expensive in Norway (at least the norwegian ones) and I think these were the best, yummiest and mouthwateringly good strawberries I've had in years!

These were perhaps the tastiest strawberries I've had in..
I don't even know how long..

 It's not that often you find good strawberries, deep red in the color, firm and not squishy in the meat, and with a sweetness that lingers on your tongue for (seemingly) hours after you finished eating them.. Strawberries like that don't need anything on them - we ate them bare, no cream or sugar or milk.

Yesterday morning (and afternoon) the heat was disrupted slightly by a shower of rain. I didn't see the rain in the afternoon, I was in the gym and only noticed coming out of the gym that everything was wet - but yesterday morning a rainbow appeared over some buildings on my way to the office.

Can you see the rainbow?

I like rainbows. Not because I believe in the old tale of the pot of gold being hidden where the rainbow ends, but more because rainbows somehow gives a feeling of hope. Sunrises too.. Strange, isn't it, how some things can mean something like that without really having a meaning?

Craftwise, things are going slow.. it's just too hot to do anything. So my knitting's resting, my stitching's resting, and my sewing machine is still not unpacked. I've heard that it might be rainy all next week, so perhaps that'll help?

***
Enjoy the day, wherever you may be. :)

Vacation days.

Mini and I took the bus to Trysil a few days ago, and hubby, sister and niece followed a couple of days later. We've had some busy days (painting windowsills and the playhouse) but today's been more of a lazy morning (although Mini woke up bright and early, as usual).

The living room is full of signs that there are two kids here - lots and lots of (vintage..) LEGO and Playmobile toys and new and old cars (I think the oldest toy car I found the other day was marked 1972).

Vintage LEGO.

 It's fun to be able to take out old toys from when my sister and I were young, and let Peder and Emma play with them now.

Vintage Playmobile.

 I remember when I first got that little playhouse from Playmobile. Not quite sure how old I was, but I remember when I had the full set of a hospital wing from Playmobile - down to cups and plates and bandages for the little people.

A mix of old and new toys.

The police car was bought during a trip to Trondheim when I was young. We used to spend some time every summer in Trondheim, visiting grandma and grandpa. I still miss the summers in Trondheim.

There's been some, but only a little, crafting achieved by me these days. Mostly because painting kills my arms and back (I'm definitly not used to hanging on top of a ladder painting) - but also because when the evening comes, I've not quite felt like crafting much. But I have been crocheting a little, and made some stitchings on a stitchery. (And realized that my mom and I have very similar taste in craft books - seeing as I've just ordered - and got - two of the same books she's bought..)

Speaking of craft books.. I've got more than a shelf full of them - some I look to for inspiration, some I've used quite a bit over the years, and some I've bought, looked at, and then placed on the shelf.. So I was thinking the other day, that maybe I should look through them again, with new eyes, and see if there are projects there that I really want to make - and if I can't find any, perhaps I should take the book off the shelf and see if someone else might be interested in it.

I really need to sew more - using Aurora (my sewing machine) but seeing as she's been packed away for most of the last month (redecorating the kitchen..) I've mostly been knitting, crocheting and stitching. Perhaps I can unpack her again later this week (when we return from Trysil) and have some quality time with her again.

***
What are you up to this summer? Any big crafting plans or just playful small projects? :)

Quite handy / On the road again..

*humming*

Plutt and I are taking the bus to see my mom for a few days - and while he's taking a nap, I'm enjoying the fact that they've got wifi on the bus. Quite practical, don't you think? 

:)

Weekending

Last weekend I took a stroll downtown with Spotify  as my company (I like walking - and I like walking while listening to nice music).

It was quite grey outside, but warm, and though rain eventually started to pour down, I managed to walk for quite a while before it started.


Fountain - finally with water.

In one of the parks we usually walk through on our regular route downtown the water had finally been turned on. (It's been dry and used as a playpin for children for most of the time so far this summer.)


Candleholders - bobbins and string..

 My mom had seen these candleholders made of bobbins some time ago, and I managed to find the store which sold them. (Good for her, they were on sale!) I love this store - they mainly sell candleholders and candles (in all shapes, sizes and colours), and I'm completely unable to resist picking up just a few items there every time I drop by. (Yeayeayea, I know that candleholder isn't the correct word, but my mind just went all blank and foggy.. so.. candleholder it is.)


My Starbucks coffe!
I love it when people have a sense of humor.. ^.^

 Starbucks opened up their first shop here in Oslo about a month ago. I've been there a couple of times now - ridiculously expensive coffee, but it's quite nice. And I love their lemon cupcakes with poppy seeds..

My first Starbucks coffe (a double latte with vanilla syrup) was so hot (and I mean HOTHOTHOTouchHOT) I bought it downtown, took the subway back home, went to the store and bought supplies for dinner and walked halfway home before it was cool enough to drink (without burning my tongue off). I was luckier the other times, and could enjoy my coffee without waiting too long. (Thinking back makes me smile.. I must've looked quite strange, walking around the store with a basket for my groceries, my bag, and a cup of coffe bought three subway stops away..)