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Been SO busy with work and everything else. A coworker has resigned after taking some sick leave for a few weeks and then two more coworkers are sick this week, so we're three people down and it's been quite rough because it's summer and thankfully our store has been very busy (busier than last year! Even a summer coworker who worked last year noticed the difference), but that means that our work pace has been very very hectic. I'm really looking forward to our holiday and I also hope we can get a new steady coworker soon to replace the one that left, because at this rate we're all going to be too exhausted. 

I've been having trouble with some mosquito bites. They're getting redder and bigger. The worst one has grown into about 1.5 x 3 cm long with a watery bump at one part. Ugh...it was painful yesterday and very very itchy (not so bad today). Actually I'm not sure if they're only bitten by mosquitoes because at that time there were other smaller, more invisible bugs as well. Because I sweat a lot at work and I have to wear work jeans, I think they also keep on grazing those bites and make them even worse, so today I went to the health care centre and was told to keep spreading a thick layer of hydrocortisone cream and taking antihistamine this week, but if they got worse I should come back there. Let's see how it goes...


I had one of the worst PMS symptoms the other week. I almost blew up in fume twice at work (imagine Donald Duck's red face whenever he gets SO angry), but thankfully I managed to stop myself and calm myself down in between. Phew! Exercising at home helped pump up some endorphins. One day I was very tired and grumpy and it was my day to exercise, but I managed to force myself to do it even though I didn't feel like it. And as usual, I felt much better afterwards (pat myself on the back) he he...

Yesterday was also my exercise day, but I skipped because I had had trouble sleeping during the night because of the itch, so I took some anthistamine after work and then fell asleep for a few hours. And still during the night I could go to bed in time. This time around I went to the pharmacy to buy another type of antihistamine that won't make me feel sleepy, because the last time around I was still so tired at work because I had a very early shift. Anyway, my silent relief from the stress and hectic pace at work is the countdown to our holiday. I really really need it and I've promised myself I'm going to have a full body massage at least three times during our holiday he he he he...Hubby once joked, "Only three times? Why not every day?" Yeah, right LOL!!!!

Busy Week

Been busy this week - fighting off the symptoms of a cold (and possibly sinusitis) as well as working and trying to rest enough and then going to the cabin is enough to make me silent online. So far I've managed to fight off the symptoms by drinking lots of warm tea with fresh lemon as well as cleaning my nose with a Neti Pot (it's called "sarvikuono" - meaning rhinoceros - in Finnish).

I took my camera with us to the cabin, but unfortunately I must've done something wrong when recharging the battery 'coz it was empty when I took it out. Dohhhhh!!!! It was such a shame 'coz we saw lots of birds there including some ducks walking on the side of an empty street, a hare, and there were lots of lovely raindrops on leaves after the rain this morning. Oh well...next time then! I took some pics using my mobile phone camera, but they don't come out as well. Still it was a lovely and relaxing trip. MIL stayed in the old house as well and she made some pancakes. We ate them with fresh strawberries, fresh cloudberries, and some cream. Yummy!!!

There're already autumn colours showing here and there. It's such a weird summer. I think the leaves have started changing colours already 'coz about two weeks ago the temperature dropped down to 2'C during the morning (at least that's what a local wrote in her FB wall post). Although the day temperature can still get up to 10-17'C, but the night temperature can be colder than that. I've just checked the weather prediction site and it seems that it can go up to 22'C on Wed and Thu. We shall see. Yesterday it was only about 13-14'C during the day but today it is a few degrees warmer.

Here are some pics I took with my mobile phone:

Busy Bee

Yesterday was a busy day for me. R2 and I went to Kelujärvi to spend time with the family 'coz his eldest bro came from the south to spend time with us. It was his birthday as well as FIL's 80th birthday, so after we had lunch together there with the big family, we headed out to visit FIL and brought him a cake. Unfortunately he wasn't in a good enough condition to open his eyes. He did, though, eat the cake and drink the coffee that MIL fed him - with closed eyes. 

It was not a particularly warm day, but every now and then when the sun came out from behind the clouds, we felt warm despite the rather cool wind. Daytime temperature was only about 15'C, but at least it wasn't raining. It did rain in the early morning, though. 

We all got to our place to eat and play cards until around 2.30 am ha ha ha ha...We played Uno and laughed so much that my cheeks started to hurt LOL!!! People can be so funny after they get tipsy hi hi hi hi...some of us had trouble following the game after a few drinks hi hi hi...I drank a little bit of orange cider, but mostly I had water, so I was fine until the end ha ha...R2 was the one calculating the points and after several rounds of game, he started making mistakes in counting our points, so we had to recheck the numbers. 

Anyway, I took some pics of a busy bee in Kelujärvi garden as well as a pic of the cake we bought for FIL. I'd never seen such a cake before ha ha ha ha...mostly 'coz I usually buy frozen ones instead of this type. It's called "Käpykakku". Käpy means pine cone and the inside of the cake is very interesting 'coz it's not like a regular cake. I forgot to take a pic of it, though, but I know that I'm gonna be looking for this cake again later on when we have something to celebrate 'coz I love it!!! :-D 

OK, without further ado, let me just share the pics...

Busy Week

Not much going on here. This week's gonna be a busy one for me 'coz my friends are coming to visit me on Sunday and they're staying here for a week. I've got work until Thursday, so I have a long weekend to prepare for their coming. Work was crazy today, so I hope tomorrow's going to be a better day 'coz we need to do so many more things that we didn't have time to do today. Wednesday's going to be a crazy one 'coz on Friday the stores will be open only half a day 'coz it's Midsummer Day's Eve so we've ordered so many things for the store to make sure it's fully stocked. Everything'll be closed on Saturday, so I have to make sure to stock the fridge full before my friends arrive on Sunday (and gotta clean up the house as well and make the beds for them).

So busy busy busy...ain't got time to think about anything else ha ha ha ha...

Anyhow, the other day we watched "The Green Hornet" and it reminds me of a movie I once watched with Jay Chou (the one who plays Kato in Green Hornet) in it. Here's a video clip of the piano battle between Jay Chou and another character in the movie. Enjoy the duel!

P.S. The Green Hornet movie is a funny one. Love the humour in it he he...

P.P.S. In the music video below, if you're not familiar with Jay Chou, he's the challenger (so the second one who plays the piano in each set of the duel).

On The Other Side

After having worked for a few months, I've learnt more things about being on the other side of "something" (in this case being on the other side of the customers' POV). There are things I wouldn't have known otherwise.

For example, sometimes for some items, the bar codes are incomplete (due to the wrong printing process) or for some reason the bar code label was ripped off (either partially or completely). Many times when this happens at work, some customers would insist that they remembered the prices of those items and they just expected us (cashiers) to type in the prices just like that. What they don't know is that in order to type in the prices, we need the supervisor's key to authorize it. Using the key, we then have to choose what kind of product it is so that it's shown on the receipt.

Another thing that I've experienced is after several busy hours being a cashier, it's so easy to lose the ability to count. I've shared this with a fellow colleague and she also said that it happens to her, so I assume it happens to the others, as well. Sometimes it gets crazy when the customer asks me to give me their change by exchanging some of them with coins. Or it gets even crazier when some customers give me so many coins to count as payment. When my brain is so tired already and I notice the queue getting longer and longer and I still have many coins to count, it gets rather stressful sometimes 'coz I just have to take my time to count carefully.

One time somebody gave me a BAG full of coins as payment. Thankfully it was filled with only one and two Euro coins. Had it been filled with 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent, and 5 cent coins as well, I would have probably freaked out he he...

Another thing that is a slight problem for me is on very very busy days, sometimes it's hard to have enough time to take a break (even though it's our right to do it). Sometimes in the middle of our breaks, we have to go back out there to serve the customers and other times it's just impossible for us to take breaks on time ('coz we have to do it by taking turns with the other workers). That's why whenever I have my break, I tend to try to fill my stomach as much as I can (esp. on very busy days) 'coz I don't know if I can take the next break on time or not. Glad to know that there've been calmer days, too. Phew!!! And it's nice to hear one thoughtful customer saying that we (workers) needed calmer hours (days) as well so that we could take a breath in between busy hours (days). :-D

All in all, I'm more appreciative towards those people who work in this type of job. Before I started working, I had NO idea what they had to deal with he he...Anyway, here's another autumn pic...taken from someone else's house near the river ha ha...

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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Been Busy Like A Bee!

Just a short note to tell everybody that I haven't got time to blog-hop since yesterday my sister-in-law came over and took me to bars (just the two of us) until late...then we spent today in my mother-in-law, so now I'm REALLY tired he he he...I have SO many things to write and some pics to share, but that has to waitttttttt!!!

Tomorrow and Tuesday we've got a substitute teacher (the one who helped us fill in the bureaucratic forms) since our regular teacher has to rest still. I'll try to blog-hop tomorrow and Tuesday, OK?

Hope your weekend has been FABULOUS!!! MISS YOU GUYS AND GIRLS!!!!!!!! ;-D

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INCREDIBLE NEWS!!!

Hi, friends!!!

Just got news from employment office that they're starting a real full-time Finnish course next January. So it's gonna be 8 hours a day from Mon to Fri for 5 whole months. YIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAA!!!

I'm SO THRILLED 'coz the chance of that happening here is SO slim. Plus since it's a full-time course, we're gonna get some lunch money from them. After all, it's a part of an integration plan for foreigners. If our Finnish is good enough to survive in the working world, then there's a bigger chance for us to get a real job here.

The bad news is that I'm gonna be SO busy, I think, esp. since I'm not a morning person and esp. if I've got plenty of homework each day he he he...so I don't know how frequent I can write in my blog anymore by then, but rest assured that I'll still be visiting your blogs whenever I have spare time. ;-D

I feel SO VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY HAPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYY!!!!! GOD'S TIMING IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

Let me sing this song for my Incredible God...THANK YOU for Your provision!!! "Your love makes me siiiinnnnnggggggggg...."

Evil

Evil is in me
The most devastating kind
It knows all my weaknesses
So it prods each and every one of them
With the most debilitating spear
Over
And over
Again.

God, it hurts so badly!
I let all my voices have a debate
Until it's high time for me to heal again.

********************************************************

Wanna hear the voice of evil inside me? Here goes...one of my darkest moments...

Ever try to do something well and then when you see other people's work, you get SO discouraged 'coz their result is so out of your league? You realize that you're only a beginner, a novice. There are times when it seems that what you're doing doesn't really matter, at least that's the accusation brought by your own mind. Then other negative thoughts start to shout at you, louder and louder. You beat yourself up to a pulp, yet there's still another voice inside you that says, "Get real, woman! Please have enough grace and kindness for yourself, shall we?"

I'm welcoming this bloody battle, though. I know there's something good that I'll find after this storm has passed. Having more spare time than others can sometimes feel like a curse. You try to give your best but then nobody seems to have enough time to acknowledge it. I don't want praises, but I want to know that my existence is acknowledged. But by wanting the acknowledgement, I feel SO selfish and self-absorbed. Thus I start to beat myself up again. And the obnoxious cycle continues.

This is one of the moments when I think (again, for the umpteenth time) that the world is sick to the bones. People are so busy nowadays that they can't focus on anything too much. Minutes come whirling by so that everything becomes a blur, except those things you consider "important". Or maybe it's just me who's sick by having this kind of thought. Maybe people are meant to be SO busy because most people are SO busy anyway. Maybe I'm the one who's sick because I have so much spare time and I'm not as busy as others.

One way or another, I know that I'm sick and I need to heal.

Today is a VERY sunny day and I truly enjoyed walking outside and enjoying the new life bursting around me. The grass's getting greener and greener and nature seems to be comforting me. I still LOVE this life no matter how sick the world is. ^______________________________^

P.S. At first I was reluctant to post this as I didn't want to spread "negativity" but I guess it's good to share the negative emotions even before I conquer the battle. :-)))