This is a photo of my trusted bike. I bought it second-hand a few years
ago from my SIL. Her daughter had outgrew the bike, so it was just lying
there unused. I have had lots of fun with this bike, roaming around the
village.
The bike makes me feel more freedom, because I can buy
some heavy groceries without having to carry them by hand or in a
backpack (I don't drive). I also love the fact that most of the time the
sidewalk is empty, so even if I feel like farting with all my might, I
can do it without being embarrassed because nobody will hear me (and
yes, I've proudly done it many times LOL! No need to try to fart
half-heartedly, just let it all out without restraint - how I love that
kind of freedom! :-D). And most of the time, I can also sing or hum
without bothering anyone while listening to songs in my mobile phone
playlist (esp. in the early mornings whenever I have morning shifts,
it's really a kicker to sing out loud on the sidewalk :-D).
P.S. Photo taken by mobile phone on Jan 24, 2014, temperature -19'C.
P.P.S. The term "freedom farter" was coined for me by a Gateway Woman member with the initials AMcM. :-D THANK YOU!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!! The long awaited sequel of First Light written by the talented Michelle Frost has finally arrived. I bought the first book entitled First Light in e-book version, but this time I wanted to have an actual book in my hand and when it arrived, I was giddy with excitement! :-D Holding a book in your hand just feels different than clicking through pages with a mouse he he he...
Here's me posing with the sequel Wisdoms of the Light.
This is the link to the first book First Light.
And here's my review of the first book:
"The characters in this first book awaken so many emotions inside me. One
character really pushes the wrong buttons in myself, another character
makes me want to befriend him, another one makes me feel protective of
her, another one makes me want to become his cheerleader, yet another
one makes me feel frustrated with his many riddles. The story itself is
compelling. I find so many parallels in today's world and in my own
experiences when reading this book. It feels uncanny in a way. This book
makes me want to see it in a 3D version, especially the part when she
describes about Aerdas. My goodness it is so beautiful! At the end of
the book, I was sighing in delight but I also felt a strong need to say
that it wasn't enough. I want MORE and I want to know more about what is
going to happen next! I'm glad that she has finished the sequel, so now
I can continue the adventure."
You can read more reviews in the links I gave above as well as some pages of the books. I ordered the second book from amazon.co.uk because I didn't want to have to pay customs tax ha ha...If you enjoy fantasy/allergy books, then I HIGHLY recommend these books. :-D
The other day I decided to experiment taking pics of soap bubbles when it was cold outside, inspired by these brilliant shots, but I had a hard time creating unbroken ones, because many burst out the second they touched the snow. I only managed to get two smaller bubbles and by then it was really tricky to take the photos because I was losing daylight already, but here are two photos anyway that came out decent. The other photos were all a failure ha ha ha...
Then I shoveled a little bit of snow from the ground and noticed very lovely ice crystals (the temperature was around -11'C). It was hard to have a steady hand to take these photos because I took plenty of photos already and I was wearing a thinner pair of gloves, so my fingers were getting cold (it got harder to press the button, also because I had had to look up to take these photos).
Oh, and almost forgot. I also noticed that my bike was covered with so many ice crystals. Here's one photo:
1. Had a lovely Indian head massage for free because MIL bought me a voucher for that as a Christmas gift. Bless her and the masseuse!
2. Walking back home from the massage with stars twinkling above me and snow particles twinkling below my feet. Dark blue sky in the background and snowy trees. This is such a beautiful place!
3. Making this dessert, though I modified the recipe a little. :-D
4. Watching this brilliant ice skating performance:
5. Watching some beautiful sky when the temperature was cold outside (the purplish photos were taken on Sat at -27'C and the pinkish sky photos were taken on Sunday at -30'C).
6. Compiling four video clips into one:
Went out for a walk on Tuesday, also because I needed to check out some winter jackets which were on sale. Alas, couldn't find suitable jackets - the suitable ones were WAY beyond my budget, so I ordered one online. Hopefully it fits so that I don't have to return it.
Anyway, it was -28'C. Here are some pics. Any fave? :-D
1. Saw a woodpecker outside MIL's place today. It was cold outside (-23/24'C) so I tried taking pics from inside her place, but then it flew away so I had to go out to take more pics and video clips ha ha...
Here's a blurry pic of it, but wanna show how beautiful the red line on the back of its neck is...
And here's a clearer pic of it...
And below is a combination of two short video clips. It flew away in the first one, but it came back for a while.
2. Managed to seduce hubby to buy some kebab from a local restaurant LOL LOL!!!
3. Getting some positive feedback from MIL's neighbour who knows me from my work. BLESS YOU, grandpa!
4. This scene:
5. Listening to some old, nostalgic songs...mmmm...
6. After all this time, we're still holding hands while watching movies/TV series together side-by-side on our respective lazy chairs. :-D If I let go too long, he'd complain and would want to hold it back ASAP LOL! I cherish these moments!
7. Getting excited because I start comparing for ticket prices to go back to Indo sometime this year. Have to ask the boss for permission first before we can buy the tickets, but still it's LOVELY to plan this holiday. And I'm GRATEFUL that we have the budget and opportunity to do it.
8. I had a vivid visualisation the other day to handle some emotional battle and it worked SO well that I felt high for a few hours after that. I'll be surely using this technique again whenever I need it. :-D
9. Had a chance to share said technique with other people and hoped that it could help them too (if they wanted to try, that is).
We both had a day off today and it was snowing lightly for half a day, so I told hubby that it was his turn to shovel the snow outside, because I did it already yesterday.
A couple of hours later, we had this convo:
R2: "You know, I was actually planning on making some pancakes, but because you told me to shovel the snow, I'm going to cancel making pancakes."
Me: "WHHHHHAAATTTT????"
R2: "Yeah, it's too much work to have to make pancakes and shovel the snow on my day off."
Me: "Alrighty then, I'll shovel the snow and you make the pancakes." (because I'd rather do this than make pancakes anyway)
R2: (SMILE)
Me: "You know what, you're SO SNEAKKKKKKKKKKKKYYY! You must have thought of this idea because you didn't feel like shoveling the snow. SNEAAAKKYYYY!!!"
R2: "HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHH...What do you mean?"
Me: "Yeah, yeah, just pretend you're not a sneaky hubby."
glitter-graphics.com
HA HA HA HA HA HA...I've just had fun in the yard. Was going to start earlier to catch the daylight, but alas things came up, so I started later than I was planning to do it. Anyhow, the only bad thing about it was that it was hard to take pics of the details with flash on, but if I took pics without the flash, it became yellowish.
Anyhow, here goes...my latest snow monster. I was supposed to make a badass sea monster, but for some reason I still managed to make it look like it was smiling HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Anyhow, take care, people! Hope you've had a smooth start of the year. :-D
Found this video clip and thought I'd give it a try myself because it moved me so much.
Okay, here we go...deep breath...
Dear Amel,
You've come so far in your 35 years of living. You used to be a very shy and quiet girl with some dark, cynical, and pessimistic thoughts. You dragged around other people's faults like chains on your ankles, but you learnt to let go of them one by one when you realized that they were getting too heavy and they were threatening to drown you. I remember how your self-confidence grew tremendously during your university days and how rebellious you were at that time. You started getting to know yourself better during your university days and you started to learn how to be more positive, but the you at that time had no clue what life had to offer in the future. (chuckle)
Even though you had always dreamed of either traveling abroad or living abroad, you weren't actively searching for a foreign spouse, but you found one anyway. And my goodness, I must say that you have chosen the right person despite the fact that you were only with the guy for two weeks in real life prior to deciding to marry him. I know you were scared stiff on the plane to Finland after getting your residence permit via the Finnish Embassy in Indonesia, but I applaud you because you managed to drown out all those voices and just focus on whatever may come.
For the past (almost) seven years of living in Finland and for the past five years of infertility journey, I've seen how much more you've grown and I just wanna say, "WELL DONE, girl!" I especially take my hat off to you for having learnt how to let go of different things and dreams over and over and over and over again. I also love the fact that you don't stop struggling with God and you were totally honest with Him even though you were so angry at Him at some parts of your infertility journey. I know we couldn't have grown like this without the support of all the thoughtful and positive people around us, so we owe them a lifetime of thanks, but still your attitude counts and I enjoy being with you more and more as time goes by and you know what? I'm looking forward to spending more days with you. *wide grin* I respect you, my friend! Here's to us!
glitter-graphics.com
Lots of love and hugs,
Me
P.S. I promise to always try my damnest to be your best cheerleader and BFF. :-D
