More books

Merry Christmas to you all! 

I hope you have not been too busy, and can manage to enjoy a little of December. I have been busy, but I have managed to also relax and enjoy life a little. 

Well, that is a slight lie...

I have ha terrible muscle spasms in my back and now after about 3 weeks they are getting better.But the result of not being able to do much is that i have been reading alot. 

1. The Julian Chapter

A continuation of the book wonder that I read earlier this year. This is the story told from Julian's side, and I did have to bring out the tissues for the end of the book. 

I loved this book. Even if it is a childrens book.

2. Me Before You

I have wanted to read this since I saw Jojo Moyes on tv earlier this year, and finally I got around to do so. I really loved this book, and it was so easy to read, so I finished it in only four days. I had to keep the hankies ready for the end of this book as well. Now I really want to read the next book, calle After You. 

3. Maskerade

This is a Terry Pratchett discworld novel, and it's about the Witches and I do lovereading about the witches. Perdita gave me a couple of life ideas actually, lol. Was really fun and easy ro read.

Maybe is it just my brain that has finally managed to get back into writing mode again after years of not practising the art of reading. 

I have so many books on my " To read" list, and I have been to so many charity shops and come out with several book the last couple of months. I am building up my library again.

At the moment I am reading Feet of Clay, another discworld novel. I do love Terry Pratchett books. 

Now, on with next year..I have ready 18 books to far in 2016, that is 6 more than I challenged myself to read. So I am pretty happy with that result. 

New goal for 2017...20 books. 

Wish me luck. 

Continue having a wonderful Christmas everyone, and have a sparkling new year 2017! 

Hugs, Linn

December book: Interesting Times

I have been reading this book for a little while, Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett. Is is number 17 in his series about the Discworld. You can read more about his books, Terry Pratchett and Discworld HERE.

I have been reading this series since 2012, when I started reading books again. I am nearly halfway through the series, and I am still enjoying the books. I might try and step up my reading a little next year, just because I really want to.

There are so many books I want to read, and there's only so much time to read. I also have other hobbies, so I don't use all my free time to read.

Interesting times is about Rincewind the Wizzard but also about Cohen the barbarian and his Horde. Twoflower that was a part of the first Discworld book, the Colour of magic is also in the book. I have not finished it yet, so I can't tell you how big a part Twoflower has.

Best thing to do, Is to just start reading them. I use a Kindle Paperwhite for the Discworld series. Just because it's there, and easy to bring along in my bag.

Linn

Once Again

I have once again decided I want to continue my blogging, but a little more often than before.

I will cover many topics, and I should probably actually start all over again with a new blog, but I don't think I want to. So instead I will just continue with what I already have. It can only get better, right?

Hope to see you all soon!!

Reading

For years and years I loved to read, read every day - all the time.
A few years ago i started reading again, my daughter is older and I have time to read.

The last few years I have joined in on the reading challenge on Goodreads, and my challenge had been 12 books every year. In 2015 I only managed to read 4 books. that is no good for a bookperson like myself.

This year in 2016 I have made an effort to read more, and so far I have read 11 or 12 books. Does it count when you re-read books?

I am on my own going to join the Rory Gilmore Reading challenge...that's over 3oo books, I think it's actually 339 books, and it's bound to get longer in November when Netflix releases 4 mini movies. Gilmore girls. A year in the life.

I am not new to GG, I have watched it since it was released in 2000. But I have never actually actively gone through Rory's books.
 I have made a page dedicated to this project on the right of this blog. I will add all the books on the list little by litte.

If you are interested in the list, the list is on Google and Pinerest as well. My list is chronological and not alphabetical.

Wish me luck, some of these books are hard to come by!

Mar.Linn

Gently

I have gently started to excercise again, trying not to go overboard as I sometimes do. go gently, not focus on speed, but just get the stuff done.

I have been "stuck" around 83 for a few weeks now, and i am hoping that a little movement will maybe tip the fat burning back to my advantage again. So..hopefully over the next few weeks I will see myself coming under 83 ! If not, I'll just continue anyway!

It is raining here, and it's nice not having to go out for a run just now.

Have a lovely day peeps!

MariaLinn

Update on weight

Just a really quick update on my weight, I hit a little milestone yesterday, since my last blogpost, I have gone down in weight a bit, from 85 to 83 kilos.

I am very happy about the result, I am pretty sure my body is adapting to the ketones, because I have really bad breath (sorry to anyone that comes near me) but it should stop in a few weeks time, unless I once again have too many carbs in my food.

I don't have ketosis as a goal in itself, it's just a bonus really. Although I do want my body to be a fat burning machine.

anyway, just wanted to put a little update out there.

Marialinn

Namechange

So I have changed the name on my blog, for a few reasons..

• I live away from my home country and I often miss my language and my family.
• I come from a Nordic country and have always loved Vikings and they are a part of my heritage, according to my grandfather St.Olav was my 30 great grandfather. 
• I like to think my name Linn comes from the name Hlin that has been mentioned as a goddess, some people think it's another name for the Goddess Frigg. I like to think Hlin was a goddess of her own, a minor goddess, but still. 
• They used to take the fathers name as surname in "the olden days" , so I am doing it too. 

I guess these are the only reasons for the change, and who doesn't need a change every so often?

Have a great day! 

Marialinn

My Diet Change

I have already mentioned my diet change, and I'll do a little recap of my story so far...

I have been a little overweight...even before I was pregnant 12 years ago..I weighed about 74-76 kilos..about maybe 10 kilos over the recommended BMI. But , you know what..I looked fine, I didn't actually look that much overweight and my belly was flat (so I hadn't had a kid by then, does that matter at all, lol?)

Anyway..I moved to Scotland, my in laws always ordered an Indian meal every Friday (I was not used to that), the food was different and slowly the weight crept up....so at a max weight of 87...

I joined Weight Watchers. I went to meetings for years, first I lost, came all the way down to 76 kilos (yay) in a year!! Then I found it difficult to follow over a longer period, I was hungry, cheated with the foods..or maybe just didn't track all I ate and drank and always went over my allowance.

One year ago this summer, I stopped going to weekly meetings, had been going for maybe 6-7 years..and I found it hard to follow more than two weeks..!

So..at my grandmothers funeral in Jan .2015...I weighed : 95 kilos.
Almost scary to write the number.

I had looked into Paleo  eating, and tried to follow that, and I had lost weight with it, a few kilos in a month, very satisfied with that. And through Paleo, I found LCHF, I don't remember how I found it, but I had read the letters LCHF before, but didn't know what is was...I read about it on Mirka's blog.

So I started reading, and finally it all made sense to me. It's FAT, we need to eat fat, not sugar and carbohydrates.
It's so easy , so simple...and yet so hard to understand.

I am not going to try to talk anyone into eating LowCarbHealthy(High)Fat, anyone that is interested in reading and learning about it..this is the place for you!!

I have been eating LCHF since June, only a couple of months..well, ok three months. I have been on holiday, had weekend guests over..and still I have lost weight.

I started on 92 kilos in the last week of May, and today I weigh 85 kilos.

So I admit I have had a stall the last month, but I am eating good stuff and I am not very hungry. I eat when I feel hungry and that's it.

I have noticed...to lose weight there are a couple of important factors for ME:

These are:

• Drink enough water
• Get enough sleep
• Do not eat too much protein
• Make sure I eat enough fat

I will keep you posted on my progress, not sure if anyone is interested, but I post for my own benefit, so I myself can see my progress. And of course, maybe I can inspire others too.

Husband is by the way also doing this, because he had high glucose in his blood when he tested with teststrips in January or February. He was shocked and looked into how he could lower the glucose. That is how HE entered the world of LCHF. I found it through wanting to lose weight,and not find it difficult to tie my shoelaces anymore..

So there you go...my secret is out.

Marialinn

Hi again!

I am back after a long holiday, We have been in Norway for almost three weeks, it was fantastic. All of it was great for a change, and I didn't put on the usual 3-5 kilos either. I met up with my cousins and their kids, I met my old friend from School, I hadn't seen her for probably about 20 years ..and yes.

It was great, we went places, saw things I hadn't seen before and in general we came home feeling very happy.

It is great to be home in Norway, but it's wonderful to come home to my own house, my kitchen, my bed..and my stuff. So, yeah, I still have too much stuff...but it's mine!

We have been shopping school uniform, and we were ready for High School over a week ago.
She looked so smart when she walked to school with her friends that first day. She still looks equally smart.

And the best thing, I think she is kind of enjoying herself there..still getting used to the school and new classmates, but still..good stuff happening.

For myself, I have a plan, and definetly a plan involving this blog. Come next month, I might have a phone that actually works with Blogger, and that means I can once again upload photos, yay!

So, I will leave you all here, hoping you have a great day!

 The cat!

Marialinn

PUMA points

I have once again joined The Running Bug's summer challenge and today was my second run. It's the first 5K this month. It went surprisingly well..although rather slow, lol.

I don't really mind that much.

I was not able to run during the weekend, because we were out shopping both days. I guess we can say that we are nearly set for our summer holiday. Suitcases are down and ready to be packed...!

I will try to keep up with my running while I am away, I don't want to be deadweigth to my Team Drive/Speed.

I have been eating good stuff, but my weight has been on a standstill for about a week now. I am hoping for some movement this week, it would be so great to see 87 again. I think this morning I was at 88.3, which I have been hovering around for about a week or so.

At the moment..we (kid and I) are waiting for the weather to get a little better so we can walk to town. Takes about 30 minutes..wonder if it has stopped by now..I have been playing Slither.io for a while hoping the rain would stop.

I better go check..have a great day wherever you are!

 See ye efter, MariaLinn

Summer?

Where did the summer go?

A few weeks ago the weather was great, the sun was shining and it was nice and warm. Now it's just not so..the clouds are grey and it's wet and rainy outside, I am even going to put on the heating for a couple of hours! 

I really hope it's going to get a little warmer soon, no wonder why I had to have my shower so hot earlier today. 

I just wanted to mention the challenge I am doing this summer, just as I did last summer. 

The Running Bug is doing the PUMA challenge once again and tomorrow is the first day. Iam going to go on the treadmill for the first time in over a month. Well..I am going to attempt some sort of interval jogging. We'll see how it goes. 

I will give you a little update on my mileage tomorrow when I have done my run. 

I am going too turn the heating on, and hae a warm cup of coffee..with some butter and oil in it. Yummy! 

See ye efter, Marialinn

Eating

I have wanted to lose weight for a number of years..Atleast for15 years..but the weight has slowly just moved upwards.

Slowly, but steady until I was at a maximum of 

95 kilos in my grandmothers funeral in January 2015.

This was only just over 12 months ago. I have followed mainly Weight Watches, and it did work..for a while. Then I slowly stepped away from them. About one year ago I was at my last WW meeting. I did not know I was not going back. It just happened, I was not needed as a helper, so I never went. 

That has been great for me, because I had already started dabbling in the Paleo life, and had lost a couple of kilos... 

In November 2015, I decided to try to eat differently, and things were good..until Christmas.

About 4 weeks ago, after reading, trying a little, reading..trying to educate myself I started properly to eat differently.

MY goodness, was it tough for several days to quit the sugar. I had headaches every day. But i didn't cave.

In four weeks I have lost 4 kilos. I started at 92 kilos, and I am at 88 kilos at the moment. 

I have had sugar this weekend, because we had visitors, and it was my birthday..

BUT

Never again.

It created a craving for sugar and bread and sweets...

Oh boy. 

Today is my first sugarfree day this week...and yup..headache has arrived. The solution, a cup of bullion. 

If you wonder what sort of lifestyle I am living...

I am here to tell you..I think I have found where the magic is at:

The magic is in the FAT. can you believe it? 

Here's "my" food pyramid

MariaLinn

Changes

I have thought a lot about my blog lately, and what to do with it..Should I just leave it? 

should I try to blog more? 

should I keep it as a hobby-blog, the way I used to ? 

should I use it to document my life and where I want to go? ¨

Well, after some thinking..I have decided:

I will continue using the blog to document my life, where I want to go and the changes that happen within my life. 

I will be honest, although I am not using our real names.

I have only today figured out how to get pictures from my Windows phone...not easy! 

But, i am sure this is the beginning of something really good for me. 

I do hope you will follow me on the way forward...

Yours truly, in Eskdalemuir on my 38th birthday...26 june, 2016!

See ye efter, MariaLinn

 

Yikes..running

I had a goal..and that was to run (or jog) 300 mils this year...I didn't manage last year...but I really want to to it this year.....

BUT...

We are halfway through April already...I haven't even run 3 miles yet..I better get a move on if I want to reach my target.!

Do you think I can do it?

Wish me luck, anyway...
Maria

On the horizon

On my horizon I can view something new and different....

My experience after trying for a while now..to eat low carb...eat more fat, less carbohydrates and more wholefoods...well, we have been eating tons of veg for years now... we have literally cut out bread, pasta and potatoes since November...we do have carbs,, but not tons of it.

Today after really trying to get away from sugar....I skipped out of the kitchen...

I SKIPPED...with no effort, and I didn't even think about it until after I had done it.
I still haven't lost tons of weight, not really...but hey my jeans are very loose,....and I ahve to wear a belt.

The jeans were new in November. Lucky for me that I have already worn these jeans out by now,...so I can happily get a new pair of jeans that will last me for the next 4 months...until hopefully I'll need a new pair anyway..a size smaller.

Maybe wishful thinking, the goal is to fit into my bunad on 17th of May.
Here's a picture of my bunad..THIS in not litereally my bunad,  but this is what it looks like.

 I found this picture after a quick Google search. My grandmother bought it for herself when I was a little girl, and she gave it to me for my confirmation when I was 14, with the promise that she could still use it whenever she wanted. A few years ago I managed to finally take it twith me here to Scotland, and now that my granny passed away over a year ago..I really cherish this costume even more. 

Anyway...weightwise..I will weigh too much, and I still haven't been uinder 90.3 kilos..which was my weight this morning. 

I also finally found my excesise gear..so I can start on my c25k program again.

Wish me all the best!

MariaLinn

My my...

I have again let my blog slide for way too long. not that I haven't been busy.
Doing pretty much nothing I guess!

No just kidding.
In January I should really have mentioned that we went to London, It was not for pleasure, but business. My kid and I needed new passports, so we drove down to London. It took us 10 hours..and we went straight to the Embassy. And we were actually about 2 minutes late for our appointment. Luckily there were only one other woman there, and we got it sorted pretty quickly.

We stayed with my father in law, and that was actually really nice! We hadn't seen him for several years...maybe 5 or 6 years, so it was a pretty good visit. He said to come back in April, but going to London is pretty expensive, so it'll have to wait.

In February the kid had her danceshow, and it lasted forever and ever.
Dress rehearsal on Saturday..only 5 hours!!
Sunday..Matinee show..met at12, show started 13.00 and lasted 3 hours..so finished at 16.00. Then two hours off, and we decided to go and grab some dinner..and then back for 18.00 for the evening show ar 19.00. Show finished at 22.00, then home at 22.30 and bed at 23.00
11 years old kid was very tired.

AND..the last show was Monday evening at 19.00, but didn't finish until 22.20..We weren't in bed until 23.30.

We had a few busy days.
Then we had the Rookie Rockstar 
Rock concert at school where MY kid won the competition for the best cd cover, and she got a tshirt and two cd's as a prize. Great evening !!

Tehn a few weeks ago the kid was at the Dance Festival, where she and 14 other Primary 7 kids danced for our school, among 15 other schools. Amazing to see all these youngsters onthe stage!!

The next thing on our agenda has been the Orchestra concert on Tuesday night. They did really really well, and I love that the kid loves toplay music.

We have had a few really busy months, sp we really look forward to the spring break. They finish half an hour earlier than normal tomorrow. I look forward to two weeks off school. Yippie!!!

My old phone broke...internal breaking..and I doubt it can be fixed, so my "new" phone is an old windows phone..and it's difficult to use. When i figure out how to get the pics on to the blog, I'll show you how my Wiola is coming along.

I have attached the sleeves to the body, so not really that much left to do. I am SO excited to hopefully finish it soon. I have been working on this jacket for a long time now!!!

Ooops, it that the time already??? Guess it's time for me to get going, school pick up is next.
And..as a last thing here..I will try to update more often about what I am up to.i have some very interesting new projects on the go.

Have a great day people,
Maria

Happy new year

Happy New year from Scotland.

I haven't been as active on the blog as I wanted to, so my new years resolution is that I want to be more active in every aspect in life.

I started yesterday with 15 minutes walk on the treadmill, and that is a prettyg ood start of the day.

Last year I ran 80.06 miles, and I really want to try to get the 300 this year. 

i hope everyone had a great Hogmanay celebration, and look forward to the new year.

I am considering a week off from Facebook, as it really is a time stealer. 

I also promise to update a little more when it comes to knitting, food and organising stuff. 

One of my  most recent "new" hobbies are journalling, but also planning. 

So, may 2016 be a wonderful year for us all..

And may the Force be with you!!

Marialinn