New Year Resolution

I have never been good at keeping New Year Resolutions, but this time I actually found one that I think I might be able to keep.

I came by this idea, you have to crochet at least one thing pr. month every month of 2015... you can decide yourself what project you want to do, if it's small or big doesn't matter, you just have to share what you create. It will also be on instagram using the 2 hashtags above.You see that is a resolution I can keep, at least I think I can.

Happy New Year! Do you have any resolutions?

Time for a change

It's time for a little change around here. I haven't been blogging for almost 2 months, but between starting a new job and the holidays I guess I have been a bit busy. I love my new job, it leaves more time for my family and other things I enjoy.

Lately the blog has become more about the creative things I do, so why not change the name of my blog to my Creative Corner. So far the changes have only been done on the IPad, so they aren't looking to satisfying yet... But hey Rome wasn't built in a day.

Hopefully the New Year will bring more time for blogging and for being creative.

Happy New Year everyone... If anyone is still reading.

Finally, it's official!

Finally I'm able to blog about what has been on my mind for a couple of months. Which is probably also why I haven't been blogging much lately.

On Friday I handed in my resignation at work. I had a bit of mixed feelings about it. I have been there for 12 years, and I have loved it, but over the last year I have become more and more sick and tired of it... So I figured it was about time for me to move on, but move on to what? I had days where I just wanted to quit, but the reason in me stopped me from doing so before I had another job. 

Then just before my summer vacation our former head of stock came by, and we talked for a while. He mentioned he soon would need more employees at the new place he was at now, so if I was interested I should give him a call. I told him that he caugth me on a good day, and I wasn't going anywhere, mostly because my boss was standing next to me.

During my summer vacation it kept popping up in my mind, but I could decide what to do. When after my vacation I had a really bad day, and to top it off my boss made a comment about my mood, which just pissed me even more of. So I was talking to a girl from another department, and I mentioned that I should just go ahead a contact this guy, I just needed to get hold of him phone number. To which she replied "I have his number"... well it turned out he had just started his vacation, but as soon as he was back I contacted him.

It all dragged out a bit, but then last week he called and said he could give my a contract by Thursday so I could hand in my resignation on Friday. 

So by December 1st I'm starting working at Viking Life Saving Equipment, where I will be receiving goods. I will no longer have to work evenings or weekends, and will be off work between Christmas and New Year, not having to work on holidays... I can't wait. 

Though having to hand in my resignation was the hardest thing I had to do in while... it's been a great place to work, but by stopping now I can look back at 12 good years, but I'm afraid that if I had stayed the bad would outweigh the good things, and I would look back at 13 bad years, even if the first 11 years had been super. Though I have to say goodbye to a lot of great colleagues, but as the girl from the other department said, the ones you really are going to miss are the ones you are seeing outside work all ready, so that isn't really going to change,

If you made it through this loooong post I congratulate you:) Just so the post won't be all pictures I will leave you with a picture of Jonas dressed like a bat for Halloween.

Not the best picture, since it was a bit dark in the morning. But I had to get a picture of him before him going to Early Years. In the evening we went trick and treating with a few of the other kids from his daycare who lives close by. I was a really nice start to the weekend. 

Happy belated Halloween.

Cooking with Connie

It's time for another cooking with Connie post. My vacation is over, and yet I have today off. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but I'm working this coming weekend, so that gives me a day off today, and again on Monday. 

During our vacation, we visited my brother. Jonas and I went down there on Friday, and Frank came on Saturday to celebrate my brothers birthday (his birthday isn't until November 14th, but my parents couldn't make it then, and since Jonas and I were all ready there it seemed easier).  In his backyard is a HUGE apple tree, and there were hundreds of apples on the ground. Since my brother isn't a big apple eater, he told Jonas he would get 1 kr (nearly 20 US cents) for every 10 apples he picked up and through in the garbage. When we were collecting and ended up getting a bag of the nice ones to make apple sauce. I think we picked 100 apples and there were still loads on the ground, but Jonas earned 10 kr for his piggy bank. 

With all those apples I made apple sauce. I found a super easy recipe online, just boiling the apples with water, adding sugar and vanilla and boiling a bit more. I ended up putting a blender through it, since I'm not a big fan of pieces of apples in my apple sauce.

And just because the recipe suggested to eat it with vanilla ice cream I did. I just had a small amount of vanilla icecream left in the freezer, so I had a little snack. 

 I always thought it was so difficult making apple sauce, but that was super easy, the worst thing was peeling the apples... so how hard can it really be:) Enjoy!

My way to relax and a few finished projects...

One of my ways to relax, and get my mind of things is crocheting. Lately I have done quite a bit of crocheting, and not so much blogging, and it resulted in a few finished projects, and a bit clearer mind.

One of the projects I have finished is a pillow for our chair. I love the design of the chair, but it really isn't too comfortable, so you need a pillow for it to be more comfortable, and after making the blanket for my parents, I liked the pattern and decided to use that for a pillow as well.

Another few projects were a Halloween "devil" and a Kähler vase. The devil was part of an assignment I signed up for on facebook. We received a part of a recipe 5 days in a row, not knowing what we would end up with. So mine didn't quite end up as is should, because reading and understanding doesn't always follow along. But I still like the outcome and so does Jonas. The Kähler vase was because there was so much fuzz about their anniversary bronze/copper vase here in Denmark. People went wild because an Internet store had said they would put x thousands for sale on a certain date at 10.00 am, and their website went down, which lead to a lot of angry women and ended up on the news. So as a joke I made my own, it has a glass vase inside so I can be used as a real vase.

When we were in Turkey in May I bought some yarn, and had promised Jonas to make a blanket for him. You can't believe how many times he asked is it finished now... even when I only had done a few rows, and it wouldn't even cover his feet. I made it a bedspread, so it is really huge and a bit heavy, but he likes it, and this morning he dragged it through the house into my bed so we could cuddle.

 

Last year just before Christmas I saw a star Christmas tree carpet, and decided that before Christmas this year I needed to make that instead of the really ugly felt one we have. So have just finished that the other night, and are actually quite happy with the outcome, now I just need to wash it and stretch it.

On December 5th it's my parents 50th wedding anniversary, and I made Jonas a butterfly, I just finished that today, well almost finished it, I still need to buy so velcro for the closing. The biggest project will probably be getting him to wear it... he didn't quite mind trying it on, but I'm not sure how he feel when he has to really wear it.

So that was what I have been up to the last couple of months, no blogging but a lot of creative therapy and crocheting.

Where did those 2 months go?

I'm still around, but I guess I just have been busy, and honestly I haven't had the time or energy to blog.

I have tried to relax doing quite a bit of crocheting, so I guess I need to do a post with my recent finished projects. If you follow me on Instagram (conniedahlchristensen) then you might have seen some of them.

Yesterday I was looking for inspiration for new projects online... Well I ended up creating an account on ravelry... Oh boy, now I need even more time:) all those Nice things I would love to make.

I am now off work for the next week, and tomorrow we are dropningen off Jonas at my parents, and go on a mini Cruise from Kiel, Germany to Goteborg, Sweden. We will be back on Tuesday, and then Jonas and I have the rest of the week off together, which I guess will involve a trip to Legoland for the last time this season.

I can't believe how big he is getting. And how good he is getting at English. When he is going to sing a birthday song he will sing Happy Birthday instead of the Danish version.

I will try to do a little recap during my week off.

Block Party

Yesterday we attended our annual block party. In the morning/noon there were activities for the kids. Jonas loved it, and really had fun all day.

 Chasing clothes pins as tails on the other kids, Jonas had a blast, though he didn't always realise that he had lost his pin.

 Egg run, Jonas was really slow, but I was quite impressed at his balance, and his concentration. He was very proud that he didn't drop it, but I think 2 other kids passed him, in the same time he used:)

The block party was Christmas themed, and instead of dressing up as Santa and his helper I dressed up as a Christmas tree (my cousin had a dress I could borrow), and we made Frank a gift costume, though he took his off pretty fast, because it was really not handy moving around in. Though the hula hoop in the bottom of my dress gave me a few challenges as well. We had a great time, but are really tired today.

Drained

Lately I seem to be drained of energy. 

I have to drag myself to work, and I don't care to be there. Since I got a new position on October 1st last year, well thing just changed. I decided not to be a sales leader anylonger, and "just" have a regular job. It's been hard, especially because I stayed in the same department. It's been hard finding my place, some still see me as a leader, at least it feels like that, because I get asked everything, I still have some of the same assignments as I had before, which also makes it hard finding my place. 

Back in October we also got a new boss in our department, and let's just say that she doesn't fit in that position. She still has a lot to learn, and sometimes it feels like everyone expects that it's my job teaching her everything... Well then they are not paying me enough. 

At times I feel like I'm the only one taking any kind of responsibility to get things done. Just a simple thing as checking her e-mail, well she doesn't do that everyday, maybe twice a week if we are lucky... Well this resolves in a lot of lost information.

If it was for my colleagues, well then I don't know what I would do. We try to stick together, and I guess we have to ride this out.

Survivor party

So this weekend was our 6th survivor party, the weather unfortunately started our really wet and rainy, but it clear up during the day. 

Get ready for a picture overload, and a few comments along the way.

 The first competition was skiing, each team got 2 boards and some rope and had to walk from one end of the backyard to the other and back.

 Here they had to flip a blanket to the other side while all 3 of the were standing on it.

 Using a flyswatter as a racket, and a balloon as a ball. They had to get the balloon to one end of the backyard, switch player and back in the basket. If the balloon touched the ground they had to start over, though we had to change that, because it was too windy.

 Throwing cards at a watermelon, they only had to get one card to stick, but this one guy was really good at it and had to show of:)

 Hole in one... well getting a pencil in the bottle, but since we didn't want it to be too easy, each team had to have 2 players getting it in the bottle.

 Building a Lego car, one had to guide and one had to build. We ended up having to stand between them, because of course they tried to cheat looking over each others shoulders....

 Placing m&ms on top of a straw with another straw, this was guy actually super fast, the girl he competed with got none placed by the time he finished... maybe she was more drunk than him.

 Who could eat 10 crackers the fastest without drinking. Well two of the girls started spitting at each other, and were disqualified.

 3 finalist at the plank, though one guy didn't last long. He actually didn't get much of a chance to get up there, but as a referee you have to be strict, otherwise this last game will take way too long.

 The final 2, we ended having them stand on one leg, jump from one leg to the other etc.

 Here they had to touch the plank, and in the end she fell of and he won. It was actually the second time he won, he also won back in 2012.

 Celebrating with champagne...

And his very nice teammates throwing him in the pool. Well they were nice enough to let him get his pants of first.

All in all again another great survivor party, though thinking up new games is getting hard, so if anyone has any good suggestions please let me know!

A finished project

I have today off, and for once I really feel like I have got a lot done. This Saturday we are hosting our 6th annual Survivor Party, so Jonas and I started the day of getting our shopping done. When we got home we got things arranged, did a little cleaning and as I write the last load of laundry is being washed.

I also got around to take a picture of a cardigan I finished last week, though I haven't got around to wash it yet so it's rolling a bit, but I hope washing it will help. Sorry for the bad picture, this selfie thing just aren't something I'm good at. 

I have now started a new project, a blanket for Jonas. I bought a lot of cotton yarn when we were in Turkey, it was a bit cheaper than here. At first I thought the price was pretty much the same as a lot of yarn here, but the quality seemed a bit better. I wasn't until I got home I realised that it was 100 g balls, instead of the regular 50 g. So it was actually really cheap. 

The picture isn't the best, the colours are much better live, the part I have crocheted is more green.

Have a great day:)

A summer update

Yes I'm still here, I guess July wasn't the month for me to blog. It's been crazy hot here for so long, I can't remember a summer this hot, and at times really humid, though hardly ever any rain. 

The great weather combined with 2 weeks off from work, well that just kept me off the computer, not like totally isolated, still checked my mail, facebook and instagram, and read blogs, but I didn't have the energy to blog.

I still haven't bothered to move the pictures from our camera to the computer, so you will have to do with cell phone pictures. On Thursday before our vacation my parents picked up Jonas, and took him home, so he could go on vacation by himself. He loved it, and was really excited to go. He was riding his bike in the driveway, when my dad opened the trunk of their car. That was his clue to run inside get his suitcase and jump in the car... my dad only opened the trunk to put something in there, then weren't about to leave. So for next 20 minutes Jonas sat in the car calling my mum and dad:)

There were no pool at my parents, but this seemed to work just as well:)

We also went camping for a few days. Well we rented a small cabin on a camp site, and our neighbours had their caravan at the same place. We had a couple of really nice days, but honestly camping is not on my top list of vacation types. We had a toilet in the cabin, but no shower, which almost freaked me out, well mostly because of my broken foot, and showering with a broken foot isn't easy. Though by the time we went camping my foot was a lot better, and I could remove the dressing so I could shower.

The Canoe ride with my brother

We had a few BBQ, Frank's sister and boyfriend came over, we went for a BBQ at Franks parents. And we went to Legoland with my parents, Franks parents and my brother. It was a really nice day, but way too hot, but Jonas loved showing everything of to them all. 

He was a fast learner, my brother told him where to put his hand and he thought it was so funny.

Saying goodbye in the parking lot

I went back to work last weekend, and this last week has been busy. Though yesterday we did have a chance to visit the harbour, where the Tall Ship Races 2014 were visiting. I must say there were some really impressive ships there.

A small view of the harbour

So all in all a busy summer, I will try to get back in the rhythm of things, and blog a bit more regular.

Life just got busy...

I don't know where the last 2 weeks went, life just got busy I guess....

Almost 2 weeks ago we attended Jonas' end of year concert, which was really fun. Unfortunately our pictures didn't turn out that well, so you will have to do without.

When he got home from his concert his pacifiers tasted bad. We had been telling him that then you get too big the pacifiers will taste bad. So before going to his concert I had brush all his pacifiers with a kind of nail polish that helps nail biters quit nail biting. He first looked at it, tried it again and the took it out looking it again... I asked what was wrong, and he told me it tasted bad. I told him he must have gotten too big, which he accepted, well almost just before falling asleep for a nap he said "mummy I want to be little again".

Handing over the pacifiers to the pirates in Legoland

Since then he only asked for it once the same evening, and tried it again, and it still tasted bad. So since then there has been no problem. So last Tuesday we went to Legoland with a colleague of mine and her 2 daughters. Jonas handed over all his pacifiers to the Pirates, and in return got a box of Lego.

¨

A ride in the canoe with my colleagues daughter

Otherwise I have pretty much just been working... well until Saturday, we decided to have a impulsive BBQ in the street with the neighbours. We told people to bring their own food, and started a BBQ. We had a really nice evening, and at some point I had to race one of the neighbours on stilts... it went okay, but I lost, so later on, after a bit more wine I figured it was time for a rematch... That wasn't a good idea. I ended up falling, my foot hurt, but I figured a good nights sleep would do it good.

My foot after a trip to the emergency room

Well Sunday morning it wasn't better, so I ended up going to the emergency room. It turned out one of the bones in my foot was broken! So now I'm on crutches for a few weeks. I was on work today because we are really not many people this week since its vacation time, so I felt bad if I had to call in sick, though I did office work all day. Now the next 4 days just need to be over, then it will be my turn to have a vacation.

Orange is the new Black

I know I'm a bit late to the game, but I just started watching Orange is the new Black. And what can I say, I have seen 2 episodes and I'm hooked.

I can't wait for tomorrow when it's my day off, and I will have a few hours to myself because Jonas has to go to daycare. He has to go because they have their end of year concert at 1 pm. So that will leave me a few hours to do some quick grocery shopping and then a few episodes of Orange is the new Black.

Are any of you hooked on this show?

Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend is almost over, but what a wonderful weekend it has been:)

Friday evening we had invited my parents in law and my sister in law and her boyfriend over for dinner. It was my belated birthday celebration. We had a really nice evening, and I got 3 new dresses and a new top, so almost a new wardrobe. My sister in law is the best at buying clothes for me, I guess she is a bit more patient than me, because if I don't find something I like right away I give up. I almost always get clothes from them for my birthday and Christmas, and so far I haven't had to take anything back, which is why I always tell her I want clothes:)

We didn't have any plans for the rest of the weekend, except for Jonas swimming class on Saturday morning. Otherwise this weekend has been spent relaxing, napping (all 3 of us have been napping), playing, knitting, watching TV and doing a little laundry.

Today we made a bonfire, tomorrow is our midsummer, where it is tradition to have a fire and burn a witch. Though it's suppose to rain tomorrow, and it might be a little late for Jonas to go to the public bonfire, so we decided to make our own little bonfire, though without a witch.

We did make "snobrød" which is a dough you twirl around a stick, and bake over the fire, translated it will be twirl-bread. 

Jonas started making his, but he had on the ground, in the dirt, deep in the fire etc. And in the end he handed it over to Frank to finish it while he rode his bike. 

I actually didn't think he would eat it afterwards, but he really loved it, so it was a success. Next time I guess we also have to make marshmallows.

Happy midsummer everyone!

Cooking with Connie

Every once in a while I will do a post in the series Cooking with Connie. 

This last weekend we went to visit Frank's brother and his Colombian wife in Sweden (it's a long story, but short they moved there because she is not allowed to be in Denmark, she had to leave the country for 3 months or so, before she can apply for rights to live here). So now they live in a cottage far out in the country in Sweden. In the cottage was a bunch of old magazines, including a cooking magazine from 2010. 

I saw a really easy recipe for a pasta with chicken and blue cheese, so after we got home I had to try it out. You cook the chicken breast with salt and pepper, and cut it up. Boil the fresh pasta, and mixed it with blue cheese, chicken, chopped hazelnuts and fresh basil. 

sorry for the poor photo taken with my cell phone.

I know there is not fresh basil in my picture, I didn't have any, and the store I shopped at on the day didn't have any either, so we had to do without. But I have to make sure to buy some for my garden.

The result was surprisingly good, and so fast and easy to make. Of course you have to like blue cheese, but we do in our household, we had a cheese platter for dessert at our wedding! So I'm for sure making that again, and it might become my go to recipe on a busy day.

A finished project... again

I have finished yet another project. I saw a lot of people online making a really cool blanket, and had to give it a go myself, but since I didn't really need another blanket, I decided to make it for my parents. There is just something nice about making blankets, because it has a lot of little pieces, though they are all the same, but after a while you can pretty much do them in your sleep, but that also means it is really relaxing making it.

After I started it my brother saw it, and really liked the colours, and said he could use one as well, so I might have to make one more. My husband also liked the effect of the 3D, and said he wanted to keep it, so who knows how many I might end up making. 

But for now it will only be the one, because as always I have quite a few projects in mind. Beside when we were in Turkey I bought a lot of cotton yarn, which was really cheap, and I kind of promised Jonas a blanket from that. But first I want to finished the cardigan for myself that I just started. 

So many projects, so little time:)

Get ready for a picture overload:)

Okay the last 1½ week just passed by in no time, getting back to work, my birthday last Wednesday, working most of the weekend, and all of this week, just left me more than tired when I get home, so blogging has been the last thing on my mind. This post will be mostly pictures from our trip to Turkey, and not much text.

 Jonas at the pool, and yes I know it should have been turned, but I'm too tired and my computer way too slow for me to bother deleting it and uploading it again. He loved being at the pool, as long as we stayed more or less in the shade. Then the sun would come over to our seats, he looked at Frank and said they needed a break in our room.

 During one of their breaks I tried the Turkish Bath - Hamam. And I also got a face mask and a massage. It was really amazing, and I really enjoyed it.

 With my chocolate face mask, I honestly have no idea what that should be good for, but the picture is quite fun to have.

 At the hotel playground, and as the responsible parents we are, we had beer at the playground... the pool was just behind us, and so was the pool bar, but I would leave Jonas on the playground by himself. 

 As I wrote last week the food at the hotel wasn't amazing, so some nights we went out for dinner. Twice we actually went to the same place. I was a Dane who had started a restaurant in Alanya and the food was amazing, the service great, so why not go back?

Jonas made friends with the waiters, especially this girl. When he saw her he would either run to her or wave at her, and she adored him too. She got quite a few hugs and kisses from him.

So overall an okay trip, the flight was really bad, because we flew with an old and really noisy plane, which resulted in headaches, and the food at the hotel was boring. But we really got to relax, which I guess was the whole point of the vacation.