Renovation Break

I'm taking a break from the blogosphere for a much-needed inner-self renovation (don't worry, I'm fine). Until then, take care, my dear friends...and let me leave you with this Apache Blessing:

May the sun bring you new energy every day.

May the moon softly restore you by night.

May the rain wash away your worries.

May the breeze blow new strength into your being.

May you walk gently through the world

and know its beauty all the days of your life.

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And enjoy this upbeat song he he...If for some reason the video doesn't show 'coz I've had trouble viewing youtube lately, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM2177pHMT0

3BT: Random Days

1. Seeing THICK piles of fresh snow all around our yard.

2. Hubby's moist (hairy) thighs and feet after I rubbed some lotion on them. The skin looked splendidly healthy!

3. Trying out a new recipe after finding a new kind of baking pan and managed to recreate a kind of Indo snack which tasted good (although I should've added a little more sugar or chocolate on top) and gave some to in-laws. MIL said that I should keep the recipe ha ha...

4. Hubby moved the toilet paper roll to a place where my hand could reach it better. THANK YOU, hubby!!!

5. Seeing how happy hubby is - how he danced like crazy around the room while making funny faces he he he...

6. Cleaning up snow every day from the yard this week and unpacking and rearranging things. I love having many things to do!

7. Loving the more peaceful surroundings where we live now compared to our former apartment (although the apartment is smack dab downtown, it means that there's more noise there).

8. Enjoying my own company (maybe too much 'coz I don't feel like being social these days - I just want to be left alone).


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9. Fresh bed sheets, fresh pillow covers, fresh blanket cover and also being able to choose curtains for almost all the windows in our house.

10. Hubby feeding me candies and me peeling oranges for him.

11. I massaged hubby's back after he massaged mine. Yum!!!

12. The house looks more in order now and it feels GREAT!!! ;-D There are still things to do, but it's not as messy as before, though one storage room is very messy ha ha...



13. I have more or less succeeded in establishing this habit of hugging MIL every time we visit her. I should keep on doing this. ---> Note: It's not easy for me to establish this habit 'coz I'm not a hugger and in my family in Indo we don't normally hug, so except for hubby it's rather awkward for me to start this habit.

14. Having sauna in our own house. YEEAAAAHHHH!!!

Hide-and-Seek

Yep, I've been MIA for a while. Busy moving and unpacking and rearranging stuff in our new place. We managed to play hide-and-seek accidentally a few times when we were running around and around in circles trying to find each other ha ha...

I've also been busy clearing up the snow from some parts of the yard every day 'coz it's snowed quite a lot since we moved here. It's a good exercise and I enjoyed it 'coz it gave me purpose - after all, I do have quite a lot of time to spend here.

So far we've also used the sauna twice - enjoying ourselves and relaxing in between the chaos and the messy rooms filled with cardboard boxes. We still haven't put on any dark curtain in our bedroom 'coz the one we had was too short - good thing the daylight here is still short, so we could sleep in peace in the dark HO HO HO HO HO...

Here're some pics of the house:

The living room:

The other part of the living room:

Our plain bedroom - no curtains yet:

The messy kitchen:


OK, that's all for now 'coz I've gotta find some curtains for the bedroom now ha ha...take care and I'll blog-hop sometime this week bit by bit.

Quotes Time!

Don't feel like writing any post, but want to share some quotations...

An archaeologist is the best husband any woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her.
-- Agatha Christie

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes."
-- Frieda Norris

No man is truly married until he understands every word his wife is NOT saying.
-- Author Unknown

Why do people say "no offense" when they're about to offend someone?
-- Author Unknown

If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.
-- Anita Roddick

Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success.
-- Oscar Wilde

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than the person to be loved.
-- Barbara Johnson

If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain.
-- Dolly Parton

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Quotes taken from here and here and here and here

Life Slipping Away...

What do you say to a patient of an incurable disease, whose condition you know will only get worse as time goes by?

Last night MIL sent an SMS, saying that FIL could be taken home from the local clinic. He was taken to Rovaniemi hospital on Monday and yesterday he was taken back to the local clinic after some tests. He had a long sleep apparently and couldn't be woken up for some reason. Yesterday MIL was dropped by our place by a neighbour who had to run some errands in town and the three of us went to the clinic. A few minutes after we arrived, R2's elder brother and girlfriend arrived - they were the ones who took MIL and FIL back to their house in the countryside (about 25 min. drive away from here).

I wanted to cry when I saw FIL. He seemed to be in and out of the conscious world, as though life is slipping in and out of him. Sometimes it looked as if he understood most things, sometimes it looked like he was confused and he didn't know where he was or what kind of clothes he had on. He couldn't even put on his clothes on his own anymore. I don't know how fast the disease will worsen his condition, but it seems to me that it's going rather fast these days compared to, say, a year ago.

It's going to be really tough on MIL as time goes by. They live in a countryside with such a huge lawn and they use firewood in the living room fireplace, so every day or every other day the firewood has to be carried from the barn to the living room and as you know, wood is rather heavy (just a few pieces of firewood isn't enough for one day, mind you). I don't even know what to pray anymore, except for MIL to be given the strength, energy, patience, joy, and peace of mind.

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Additional note: FIL can still walk on his own, so it's a good thing.

U-Min: Japanese Poppers

Found this accidentally and my mouth was gaping open while watching. SUPERB!!! BRILLIANT!!!!

Health News + Moving in Progress

Yesterday nite we heard shocking news about FIL. He was taken to Rovaniemi hospital due to some health problem (there's no full-blown hospital in Sodankylä, so women who want to give birth have to go to Rovaniemi hospital), but they said that they'd take him back to Sodankylä health centre perhaps today. Just now I received a reply from MIL that FIL has been taken back to Sodankylä and she's glad that the condition isn't any worse. Remember that FIL has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease since 2006 if I remember correctly (or at least around that time).

I'll let you know about his condition later on when we've heard more news about it. When it comes to moving, we still have to move some stuff to the new house 'coz the final moving date is next Sunday. We've gotten rid of most of the things we have here. There are still some boxes that need to be moved and we haven't taken down our bed and my computer table plus my computer (today R2 took down his computer plus the computer table).

If we happen to move to the new house faster than Sunday, we'll only be able to get online on Monday (the internet connection is moved there only on Monday), so I'll catch up with all of you later, OK?


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P.S. Do you ever wonder how much stuff you've been piling up over the years? Every time we move to a new place, we're amazed at the amount of things (plus junk) that have piled up, even when we lived in a small apartment (the first apartment we lived together was only 49 square metres).

Busy Monday

This morning I went to the PO to send my submission to a writing contest. It felt good that I'd completed a 2-page writing in Finnish 'coz it helped me think in Finnish he he...I don't have high hopes about winning the contest, but just thinking that the judges will be reading my submission makes me feel EXCITED!!! :-D

After that I continued riding my bike to my friend's place (I was hoping for mild weather and I got my wish - it was only -8'C so I could ride my bike there). It was rather uphill and I hadn't been riding my bike for long journeys for a while, so I cheated and walked my bike when I was near her place (the toughest uphill part). Then about 15 minutes later a friend of us picked us up with her lovely daughter and we had fun at her place and we had lunch there. ;-D THANKS for the fun, girls!

Next time it's my turn to invite them to our new home he he he he...;-D

Now back home and waiting for news whether or not we're going to move some more stuff to our new home today. My legs are rather tired 'coz I dropped by at the supermarket on the way home 'coz we almost ran out of milk he he he...good exercise, though!

Yesterday we went to my MIL's place 'coz we didn't go there on Saturday. We had fun playing cards with BIL and his girlfriend and MIL. I won the first game, but the second game I sucked real bad, though we had to stop the game before it ended 'coz it was getting too late - but rest assured that we'll continue the card game when we're all there again he he he...

No pictures to show you this week 'coz I've been busy. I'm also thinking of some ideas to write for other writing contests. Hmmmm...ideas, come to me he he he...OK, better blog-hop now...


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3BT: Random Days

1. Hubby asked me if I still wanted any chocolate pancake before he ate them 'coz there were only 2 or 3 left (just in case I wanted some, too). I'm grateful for his thoughtfulness.

2. Hubby wanted some homemade pizza, so I made it today (took me 2 hours in total 'coz I had to make the dough myself) and called hubby when it was done and I was SO happy to see his delighted face when he hurried home to eat the still-hot pizza.

3. Living in a small village means that hubby could go back home for lunch without having to spend too much time on the road.

4. Snow on electric cables (a few centimetres thick) - it looked like some kind of decoration for the cables.

5. A close friend of mine said that I'm rich in detecting my feelings and mapping them out.

6. A close friend asked me how I'd like to be supported during my battle with IF and for me that's one of the best things that someone can say to me when I pour out my heart about our IF battle.

7. Laughter and card games with MIL, hubby, BIL and his girlfriend. LOVE the friendly atmosphere filled with jokes. Never felt any tension whenever I'm with my Finnish family.



8. I've just finished writing a submission for a writing contest (R2 still needs to correct my grammar and spelling). It's the experience that counts - plus it means I've succeeded in forcing myself to write in Finnish about a certain topic for public again (well, at least for the judges).

9. The process of moving to our own house has been going well.

10. Free online scanlations of Japanese comics (with English text) to read. YYYEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!

11. Anticipating for our potluck lunch at a friend's house next Monday - three expats in Sodankylä will meet and babble HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

12. Made strawberry pie without a proper recipe, but it turned out that hubby LOVVEEEEDDD it so much ha ha ha...


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Paperwork + Packing

Today we went to the bank again to sign SO much paperwork he he he...We were also offered home insurance and car insurance with a discount, but we'll have to compare the cost first with some other insurance places before we sign any deal to get the best quote. We're also offered MasterCard without any annual fee 'coz then that card offers travel insurance (whereas Visa doesn't), but we have to think about it first - I'm not going to apply for the card 'coz I don't even have any salary, but R2 might change his.

When I first saw the figures of the home and car insurance quotes, I was shocked...but after I divided it by 12, the cost per month isn't that high he he he...but this proves that there are really many other side fees when you own your own house versus when you just rent an apartment he he he...

This evening and this weekend we'll be moving stuff to the new house bit by bit. Our internet connection will be moved to the new house at the beginning of next month, so if we happen to move already next Saturday or Sunday, I can only get online on Monday. But then again we'll be so busy unpacking everything during the first few days we're there anyway he he he...

R2 still has to deal with some other type of paperwork that we have to get within 6 months before the whole paperwork deal is over. Phew! It's interesting, though, to know what kind of paperwork that one has to do to seal the deal here. I mean, I've never owned a house in my entire life, so I don't even know how it works in Indo he he he...here now I know a little bit about it and the extra costs that come up just to seal the deal - the notary fees, the bank fees, the fees to get other types of paperwork.

One thing that we didn't calculate was the number of windows there are in a house. After I counted them, I was thinking to myself, "Do we have to buy many more curtains?" But while packing things, I realized that R2 has already plenty of curtains of different patterns hi hi hi...and I KNEW they must've come from his Mom (there's NO way he'd buy spare curtains if he doesn't need any), so I did ask him about it and he confirmed what I knew already hi hi hi...THANK GOD for thoughtful Moms!!! That means we don't have to spend money for curtains in the near future - if we want to buy new ones, we can, but at least not in a hurry 'coz we've already spent so much money.


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The other night I was thinking to myself, "Hey, now that we have some lawn, we can have a small barbecue party in summer. YIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" And yeah, I started daydreaming about the time when my parents and brother and family can come visit me, 'coz we'll have plenty of rooms for them he he he...

OK, enough rambling. I've been trying to think of participating in some writing contests, but first I need to find IDEAS on what to write!!!! I'll blog-hop later...