This year is utterly crazy. And who are we to stay sane? Is it even possible?

Honestly I feel like I have for the past few years(8 or so) had one challenge after the other and with each challenge my mind has gone can't get worse that this…RIGHT!?” and then it does. Its not all big stuff its all the small things (totally started singing that song in my head as a wrote those words) added up. They add and add and add and then implode or explode.

Right now Im at a implode kinda place in life, no need to scream or fight, all I want is to lay down and do absolutely nothing. Feel nothing. Or maybe feel it all? But most certainly have no responsibility for others. None.

Is it ok to take a break from a life that I love? Cause I do, my family is my favorite people on earth and I love spending time with them. And I also get kinda lost in all the messiness a family of 5 create. The physical mess, oh yes, and the chaos in my head when I allow other familymembers take up space in my head. So much space there is no room left for me and my needs.

No one is doing this to me, I am not setting the boundaries needed for my health. Honestly I just recently truly realized that my needs are valid and more important than meeting needs of others. My needs are more important than meeting needs of others. I need to repeat that one cause even if I know it it still doesent make sense. Being taught to push down feelings and needs my whole life it is a strange place to be, right here where I am and just now starting to let myself actually listen to what I want and need and then take action.

I meant to share this months ago but now will do!

We started renovating our house in August 2019 and lets look how far we ave come since then. It is important not to forget all that you have achieved especially when it feels like we are stuck right now.

The before photos are the first photos of the house we got from Christoffers mom, obviously not in the slightest staged… The after photos look kinda staged tho, this is right before our friends came to visit this summer. Normally our house is a mess. Not kidding.

(click on the far right image for more images)

The hallway is a work in progress… plan is painting walls and stairs white and sort out better storage.

The kitchen is another work in progress area, we do love our new kitchen island! Plan was to keep the kitchen as is but paint the cabinets and change countertops…but now we are going to rip out the old and do the whole thing(YAAY!) Obviously keeping the island.

My office/walk in closet. We had NO idea just how big this room was….

Our bedroom got slightly brighter…

And Manfreds room…

The livingroom/diner is becoming my favorite room of the house, the last photo is from today

Nils and Nellys rooms really capture their personalities

The family fun room looks soooo much bigger and brighter now

As we are settling here on the country side life is slowing down. I have always chased the more fast paced and intense kinda day to day and now I'm forced to start dealing with all that comes up when you stop moving so fast.

There is a lot.

I was toying with the thought about going to see someone, like a therapist of some sort, and how I would open up my packed full can of worms…where would I start? The list is so long and is’s all coming back to me now(can't help but hear Celines voice).

I am a master at sucking it up and putting on a smile but I'm not gonna do that now. I want to live, like truly LIVE the rest of my life. And in order to do that there is a lot of dealing that needs to be done. And the time is now.

How do I start?

I raise my kids slightly different than most, I think. Seriously how can anyone truly know what life is like in another family? One example is when I get fed up by the gazillion MAMA (let's face it, 3 kids x 50, 100, 200? Mama's day is…a lot) my response is belting out ‘mama just killed a man…’ at the top of my lungs. And keep going and going until they join me. Some times I go all in on the head banging.

The other morning as we had breakfast Manfred (one and a half years old) out of the blue goes ‘ mama…oooo’ in perfect tone. My heart.

This makes me silly proud.

My kids will for sure remember their mother as slightly nuts. Much better than uptight and boring!

I have been brewing on this one for quite some time. Actually since I was a little girl.

I´m writing a book. Or five.

Following Glennon Doyle on Instagram and reading her phenomenal book Untamed has pushed me to the edge and now I am jumping in.

It will be books about my life and I know exactly what event and part of my life to start with. 2001-2004. The early twenties. The rude awakening of just how brutal adulthood can be.

I have absolutely no idea if this will happen, if it will become a book. Or five. I just know that I will do it. It will be the therapy I never gave myself.

As advised by Glennon(seriously follow her in Instagram, buy her book!)I will start by writing every day. Here. No plan, just write and get used to typing out my thoughts before I start on the big thing this fall.

Excited. Scared. All the emotions.

The concept is fairly new to me, except for the traditional chanterelle or berry picking.

When I started to use a dried nettle powder to amp up my iron levels and realized how stupid it is to buy it(expensive and unnecessary)when nettle grows literally everywhere! I got curious about what else is out there that's edible?

I am learning as I'm doing, Google is my friend.

One thing that's certain, dandelion flowers fried in (vegan)butter is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten! Who would have known? I imagine the thousands of dandelions I picked over the years. The thousands that get tossed on the compost by annoyed gardeners. What a waste!

Yesterday I picked nettle and dandelion flowers and leaves. I made a pesto-ish green sauce that tasted amazing on pasta, you need to be prepared for a quite strong green and a bit bitter taste. With lovely flavours like garlic, capers, lemon,(vegan)parmesan and nutritional yeast it tasted so damn good I might make it again today and skipp the pasta and eat it by the spoon full!

Start small, be curious and give it a go!

Whipped coffee is all the craze on social media right now, it is easy delicious and feels like a magic trick. Creating tasty stuff out of thin air.

Ingredients:

Instant coffee, sugar&water

Equal parts. For one coffee I use 1 tablespoon of each.

Whip until it firm, done!

There are options, like using coconut sugar instead of the white gold. Or I tried with slightly less coffee and a bit of vanilla sugar: recommended! I'll try with liquorice powder next time…

I make an iced coffee with oat milk and top it up with the coffee whip.

So indulgent! Delicious!

Extra tip: freeze leftover coffee and use as ice

Home made Kimichi is quick and easy to make!

I am not one to follow recipies so this right here is estimates, taste taste taste all the way through and remember that the heat gets more intense as the Kimichi matures.

What do I need?

• A large glass jar(important so sterilize it with boiling water before use)

• Knife or mandoline and cutting board

• a mixer of some sort I use a handheld stick blender

• gloves

Ingredients:

• a big head of Chinese Cabbage

• 2 solo Garlic or 5-7 cloves of Garlic

• a thumb size of fresh Ginger

• one sweet apple(could be substituted for 2 tbls of sugar)

• small Onion

• 2-4 tbls of Gochuagu Korean Red Chili Powder(depending on how hot you like it)

• dash of Tamari (or if not vegan Oystersauce)

• ca 5 dl Water

• 2 Carrots or Dikon Radish

• 2 Scallion(optional)

• two handful of coarse Salt

How to:

• cut the Chinese Cabbage in desired pieces(I prefer about 1-2cm pieces) thoroughly was and drain cabbage, put in big bowl and turn in the salt, make sure all cabbage gets covered.

• cut Carrots and/or Dikon in desired pieces, I like them in about 1/2 cm jullienne, turn the carrot/dikon in with the cabbage and salt. Let sit while mixing the paste, test the cabbage for consistency you want it to have softened but still have a core. The veggies can sit in the salt for a few hours if needed, I prefer the veggies have some oumph!

• mix Ginger, Onion, Garlic, Apple, Tamari, Chili Powder and Water in to a semi thick paste, add more water if needed. Just a dash of Tamari(or other soy if not needing to be GF), remember that the cabbage is already pretty salty.

• rinse the salt covered cabbage and carrot/dikon thoroughly a few times making sure all the salt is rinsed off.

• mix in the paste and chopped up Scallions(if you choose to add them), mix well. This is where the gloves come in handy!

• put the kimchi in serialized glas jar and push it down. Make sure the kimchi is covered in liquid. If not swirl some water in the bowl you used and pour that over the kimchi.

• Seal and let sit in room temperature 24-48hours (you could leave it out longer for a more fermented taste if that is what you like) and then refrigerate. Try staying away from it for a week at least, then ENJOY!

Have you ever uttered the words “I am not flexible enough for yoga?”

Are you curious about the body and how you can find strength to carry yourself in you unique way?

You might be a seasoned yogi with countless hours on the mat, you might be brand new, you might be 80+ or 20 or 50 or… , there might be a history of injury, or maybe you are training for the next marathon/ski season/heavy lifting/insert any other activity, have you hit the wall and feel well enough to start som light movement?

This course is for YOU, all of you! Since we use each and every unique body as a starting point id doesn't matter at all that we are different. No it's actually a good thing!

So what is it we do in class?

Start off by moving our joints, not muscle focus, joint focus! We move the head arms shoulders spine hips knees all of it! This sequence will be slightly different from time to time but all and all the same. The intention is to get movement throughout the whole body. Along the way you will learn important bits and bobs about your own body, for example how left and right side differs.

The next section we nerd out about one function and or body part. This is where the curiosity is needed. We look at yoga positions, and other more everyday kinda life movements, from the inside and out. Tree pose is a great example: We try it in the middle of the room, observe how the body is looking and most importantly feeling. Then move over to the wall, giving the spine and hips support by leaning in to the wall, then try to lift the foot(this can be hard at first the body often likes to compensate by using spine or shifting the weight) and opening up the leg to the side. Most often this will look and feel totally different from the shape we had in the middle of the room. We can also discuss where to place the foot on the standing leg, IF we do place the foot…we might not!

These classes are held in a workshop style, we discuss everything! I will ask how things feel, when I get feedback I might shift something for you or even shift the whole class. Over 8 weeks we will cover the whole body more or less, and the intention is that all attending will leave with plenty of new knowledge and understanding of their bodies.

This round Im holding this 8 week course in Grangärde Bystuga email me info@karinbrattberg.com if you are interested!