Bureaucracy Again + Babbling About Money

1. Residence Permit Extension

Yesterday as I was in my in-laws' house, I decided to check out the validity period of my residence permit. I had marked my mobile phone's calendar to remind me when I had to renew my residence permit. Turned out I had miscalculated the time. My residence permit is valid until March 6, 2008 and I remember that I read in Finland Forum for Expats that I had to apply for an extension of that residence permit about 6 weeks before the expiry date. I checked my calendar again in my mobile phone and realized that I'd have to do it NEXT WEEK!!!

So last night after we got back from my in-laws, I was busy filling in the forms again. Yeah, the price for marrying a foreigner. I have to fill in all the forms again just like last year and then I had to bring my marriage certificate again. Plus I also have to bring a new passport photo.

That means tomorrow I'm gonna be busy. Mondays is my exercise day with Billy Blanks and then I'll have to go to a photo studio to have my photo taken, then I'll go directly to the police station to submit all the forms, and then I probably have to buy more milk and grocery. Oh yeah...I also have to take some money from the ATM to pay for the residence permit extension in case they only take cash he he he...

Then I guess I'll browse some boots in the stores as they're having some big discounts. The winter shoes I have are good and reliable, but I can't wear double thick socks as they get too tight for me. So I'll search for a pair of boots with a bigger size, but I'll buy them ONLY if the price is reasonable.

2. Money, Money, Money.

You know one funny thing about money? Before Arttu got a job and before I started blogging for money...I was SO grateful just to know that we had enough money to buy fruit occasionally and that we had enough money to pay for our monthly expenses.

Now that Arttu has a steady job already and I've started blogging for money, it seems that my WANT WANT WANT has reared its ugly head. I really have to control this since I begin to want to buy many things that aren't really important or urgent.

Well, I'm not trying to say that we can't enjoy life or that we shouldn't pamper ourselves every once in a while, especially if we do have the money. That's not it. It's just that I've realized it's SO EASY to let unimportant and non-urgent things look or sound important and urgent simply because we WANT those things. It's easy to let yourself be unhappy or disappointed when you don't get EXACTLY what you WANT. And it's easy to forget that even when you only have the VERY basic necessities in life, you CAN be happy and that newer, bigger, more sophisticated, more fashionable stuff can't bring happiness.

Anyway, I came across this article and I'd love to share it with you:

The Secret of a Grateful Heart

Here's the excerpt:

Theologian Henri Nouwen says in his book The Return of the Prodigal Son that gratitude is more than a mere "thank you." It is a discipline to be practiced each day in a conscious way. The apostle Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Thessalonians, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (5:16-18).