Viser innlegg med etiketten A little bit about nothing. Vis alle innlegg
Viser innlegg med etiketten A little bit about nothing. Vis alle innlegg

5/24/2013

Thank God it's Friday!

Totally bored at work today!

Only the cleaning lady and myself are at the school today, there are no phones, only a BIG pile of tests to correct and no one to talk with :(

So let's do something fun instead (sneaking a blog post in at work ... shh)

These are some of the items I've pinned recently:



Project Runway - just wait and see next week what this will become!

Pretty, right? I love it, my girls not so much ...

This weekend I will attempt to:

  1. Wash my house outside - getting it ready for paint
  2. Sew, making a pattern for what I sew
  3. Spend time with my girls ...
  4. Write a paper for my Master's program, due Sunday ...
  5. Sleep!
Yeah, right! In my dreams ... or maybe I'll surprise myself and actually manage to do all of this!
I guess the weekend will show, right?

How are you spending your weekend?

5/17/2013

May 17th Happy Birthday Norway

 Sorry if I offend anyone - but I just happen to live in the best country in the world! And today, May 17th, is Norway's birthday - 199 years since we got our constitution!
 Every May 17th, all the school kids walk in a parade, waving to all the audience, standing in the streets. We sing our national anthem and other really nationalistic songs. We celebrate our freedom, our love for our country, our flag - and notice, it's made out as a cross.
 We eat as many hot dogs and ice creams as we can possibly fit and we are happy. Telling people we don't know Happy Birthday!
 We wear our national costumes, mine is hand made by my mother and I. The girls' are store bought. Next year, I'm planning to make costumes for them!
We love May 17th and Norway
Happy Birthday!

12/30/2011

A few of my favorite things - and your favorite things

It's that time of the year again, when we look back at what has been and look forward and try to make ourselves some promises to make the future look brighter, tidier, more financial, healthier or whatever.
My most viewed post in the past week

I've written this blog almost a year, my first post being February 3rd. I had hopes it would be a hit... not so much, I've seen blogs grow a lot faster than mine, but I have to be myself and write about things that matter to me and I have to make things I like. I'm going to continue making things I like, writing about things that matter to me, and those of you that find my blog interesting, I love seeing you here!
2nd most visited post in the past week

I loved doing the So you think you're crafty-contest, don't know if I deserved to be the winner, but I was! Thank you for all of your votes. I also loved One Month to Win It-contest - didn't make it as far there, but had fun while it lasted.

One of my most visited tutorials
This fall has been a busy one, with both the 31 days of change and the 30 days of tutorials. I had so much fun, challenging myself into writing every day - that's what I wish I would be able to do all the time. But between being a full-time working, half-time studying single mother - there just isn't enough hours in the day to be able to create something new to post about every one and single day. 
One of my favorite projects this year

I do really well under pressure, though, and I will continue to challenge myself. Right now I'm planning my contribution to the Project Run and play challenge for this week - being really happy with what I've come up with! I'm also playing with some ideas - some new contests, we need something new soon, right? (smile)
All time most visited post

I really love to blog - I love the new friends I make during this digitalized world, I love the challenges I get, the ideas, the visits, the comments, and I love to read your blogs. I have a few favorite blogs - OK, a lot of them...  You guys are just so talented, and making a top three would be almost impossible - and unfair to all the ones I love, but don't mention here.... look at my blog roll, you'll get an idea.
one of my favorite projects this year - my final project at SYTYC

We've had a really nice Christmas this year. My brother has been visiting with his wife and two daughters. My girls looooove to play with their cousin. And I love listening to their talking and playing. My girls have a strong faith in Christ - my brother's family is not believers. My girls cannot fathom how someone just doesn't believe - their telling their cousin how she can just look at herself as proof of God existing... and maybe you'll believe when you grow up. This conversation is truly one of my favorite things happening this year, my girls showing how strong their faith is. It's my BIGGEST fear as a parent that they will grow up not believing - and so far, so good! I am so blessed! 
One of my girls' favorite project this year - they slept here past summer.

Their teacher is also telling me they witness about Jesus a lot in class - makes my heart so proud of them!
My girls' other favorite project, they use it all the time for playing with their Barbies

Now, 2012 is one day away, I hope you'll come back, I would love to see you. I really wish you the very best 2012 - 

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

9/23/2011

Making memories

 The last couple of days it has really hit me that my girls are making their childhood memories NOW - the house we live in is THEIR house, the things we do together are THEIR memories when they are all grown up, the school they go to is THEIR school and THEIR class.

I remember the couch we had in my house when I was little, I remember how it felt against my skin, the bright orange color of the seventies, I remember the car we drove. I remember the wallpaper we had in our kitchen - the brown and orange one. And I remember the wallpaper I had in my room - with dogs on it. I loved that wallpaper.
 When I look through my old clothes or books, I remember a whole lot of nice things, like my favorite terddy bear, my favorite books and my favorite clothes. One of the things I remember the most about my childhood is that my mother ALWAYS had time for me.

And all this makes me want to stop for a second and think about my life a little more. Is it really important how everything looks at home? Will they care how the couch looked, or what color my livingroom was?

I want to create nice memories for the girls. Memories of laughter, playdates with mommy, impulsive travels. All of this is making me consider more what do I really want my girls to remember from their childhood? What is important to ME that THEY remember? I think that they will love our couch and our messed up car when the are adults - just for the fact that it was theirs when they were young.

all the pictures are from Pompdelux.no - a Danish (not very expensive) clothing brand
I don't know about in the rest of the world, but in Norway, I feel a lot of pressure about interior decorating, about clothes, the kids' clothes, car, hair and make up - there are so many EXPENSIVe brand names when it comes to kids' clothes here now - and I'm wondering who is it all for? Am I dressing my child in expensive clothes for the cild's sake or for mine - will they appreciate their expensive clothes when they grow up?

I want to build fun, lasting, loving memories in my children, I want them to remember how much fun WE had, and today I'm surprising them with tickets to the movie theater.

What do you want them to remember?
Happy Friday.

9/20/2011

I'm still alive!!!

I'm still alive - and everything is fine ... and thank you so much Jill, for asking. Makes me happy to know that I'm missed. My girls started school this year, and I just find it to be so much busier than kindergarten - I work full time, then pick the girls up at four - home, make dinner, do homework and then it's almost bed time for the girls... super busy.

All photos found here: http://www.kidstylesource.com/
BUT... my au pair arrived Sunday, and now I don't have to worry too much about house keeping and I might be able to have more dates with the sewing machine. I have some outfits planned for the girls. They have picked out fabric... I can't wait to get started. This weekend I made curtaind for the au pair's room. (I cheated - I made them soooo fast and easy). Hopefully I can get some pictures of them and show you how easy they were. I know some of you are waiting for the pleated bubble skirt - I'm getting to it. I promise.

 I really feel that now that the girls have started school, they are getting a lot bigger - and I need to change their clothes a little - I'm constantly looking for inspiration - I think my BIGGEST inspiration is other people - when I'm out shopping, going for a walk - everywhere I am, I look at other people's clothes for inspiration. But searching the web is fun too - gotta love that Pinterest...
 And while I want my girls to dress older - I also do NOT want them to dress like mini grown ups - they are still girls, only close to seven years old - I need to find something in between the super duper cute dresses made for little girls and the rough and tough fashion for tweens and teenagers - because that's what they are - not little girls anymore, but certainly not very big either.

I guess we will be seeing what the sewing machine will produse... enjoy your day - and I'll try and post more regularly again.

2/03/2011

My new blog

My crazy, lovely, beautiful, wonderful girls.


 I am Tone from Småenglenes verksted, and this is my new blog - I wanted an English blog because most of the blogs I read are American or Canadian. Why Bless? Well because on all the items I sell, I put the blessing on - May the Lord bless you and keep you. I also wanted a name that would portray all of me, and everything I'm about. And my faith is very important to me.

 This blog will be a little bit about everything, a whole lot about being creative. I want to do scheduled posts every week, like pattern day, faith day, photography day, single parent day and so on. Everything isn't planned yet. And yes, I am a single mother to my twin girls. And maybe sharing the trials I go through as a single mom will be helpful for others.
 I hope I can inspire. I know a lot of you inspire me every day. And I am so looking forward to starting this journey.




Welcome to my blog, have a happy reading. i hope I'll be seeing a lot of you in the future.

Bless, Tone