1. This year I've finally managed to return the favor to someone who generously helped me years back. It feels good to finally have a chance to show my appreciation to that person. WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!
2. Receiving these lovely belated birthday gifts from MIL. I was SOOOOOO touched when I got them yesterday. The one written in Finnish means: "Thank you for listening and caring, for giving and sharing, and for being always near." And she especially chose the blue angel because she knows that blue is my fave colour. BLESS HER!!! She's an angel herself!
3. The excitement of waiting for some Christmas gifts to arrive. I've ordered myself a book ha ha ha a ha...Who says you can only give somebody else a gift? LOL!!!
4. Coming back home from work at night and realizing that hubby had put up some Christmas lights here and there (no Christmas tree, just the lights). It certainly created a more festive atmosphere amidst the whiteness of the snow and the darkness of winter! LOVE it! :-D
5. In the beginning MIL was supposed to be away during Christmas, but the plan was cancelled. I feel bad that the plan was cancelled, but I'm glad that we'll have MIL with us again on Christmas. Christmas without her feels weird.
6. Today I managed to spook hubby when he came back home from work. Because it was so dark outside already, it was easy for me to hide behind the front door (actually I crouched next to it) and then jumped at him BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHH...:-D
7. Reading this inspiring list: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do.
8. Watching this video clip below:
Yeah, been busy and tired a lot lately. I've read online about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and I think I'm suffering from it. Not the depression, but the weird fatigue (even though I've slept enough) and being unmotivated. Also my brain doesn't work as well as in summer. I've also read that working shift jobs also affects your body to suffer from SAD. When I was helping out at the library two winters ago, I didn't feel any SAD 'coz I had such a regular work schedule. But now every week I have different work schedule, so my body clock is all messed up now that it gets darker and darker in winter (in December there will be a few days when the sun doesn't come up at all).
I've been thinking of buying a light therapy lamp and I've been browsing A LOT to find out which one I should buy. It's hard to choose 'coz the best one seems to be Philips, but I don't want to pay that much for a lamp (esp. 'coz I don't know if it'll work as well for me or not) and I've been toying with the idea of buying another lamp (made locally) that is half as cheap, but I still haven't decided yet. Gonna browse a little bit more before deciding - plus I want to wait until I get my paycheck first before ordering anything he he he...
Other than that I've been fine. Went to my MIL's yesterday to celebrate an early Father's Day with my BIL and SIL 'coz R2 was having a pre-Xmas party in Levi, so he couldn't come. I walked to my MIL's place 'coz I wanted to get a ride from BIL/SIL HE HE HE...
OK, now here are my 3BT random list:
1. Hubby's home safe and sound and I can BUG him again HA HA HA HA HA...It was boring without him here. Plus he wrote a very funny SMS that made me laugh last nite: "Bunny! Get me out of here! I MISS YOUUUUUU!" HE HE HE HE HE...
2. Watching the clouds today...
3. Noticing that some people have already started putting some Christmas lights outside (on the bushes/trees). They really cheer me up when I ride my bike to work in the mornings ('coz it's already SO dark now in the mornings).
4. A customer asking me if I felt at home already in Sodankylä and when I said yes, he really looked like he cared about it. THANK GOD for caring people! :-D
5. Having warm-hearted non-fussy in-laws that let us do our thing without interfering with anything, that accept me just the way I am.
6. A LONG WEEKEND!!! WOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
7. Fast internet access that never gives us any trouble. :-D
8. Having a job (just when I thought that getting a job here would be close to impossible). :-D
9. Frozen duck (haven't cooked it yet, but it made me SUPER HAPPY to find it at Lidl's again!).
10. Sending an email to someone to say how much I appreciate that person.
11. I'll sleep with hubby again tonight! YIIIIHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! No more lonely bed!!! ;-D
12. Getting some free non-alcoholic cider from Lidl HA HA HA HA HA HA...;-D I LOVE cider!
1. When a man buys women's stuff (panty liners, bras) or children's stuff (children's food, diapers, milk) in my workplace.
2. Fresh bed linens.
3. Movement-induced lamps, which are VERY VERY handy in winter. It gets SO dark outside now, esp. when I have evening shifts.
4. Seeing open doors for a friend. :-D
5. Frost. Beautiful frost.
6. Today's Ken's 2nd birthday. Two years ago today, R2 and I were at the hospital where he was born. Such a pleasure and honour to be able to witness (heard) his birth right outside the labour room.
7. An old customer asked me how I was doing and when I asked him back, he said, "Fine, 'coz you're at the cashier. Even when it's raining sleet outside, you're like the sun." I thanked him. He made me smile. He said it in a matter-of-fact way, not flirty. I didn't get any weird vibes from him, so it made me feel like he just wanted to show me that my being there mattered - and I was touched. :-)))
8. I've heard a few customers (upon asking where I come from, etc.) say that they're GLAD that I moved to this village. One of them even said that it was good to have different races here. I TOTALLY appreciate those people who took the time and effort to encourage me verbally.
9. Having MORE than enough.
10. Hubby squeezing me SO tightly as though he was about to lose me or something. That felt SUPERB! :-D
11. Making banana+cheese+chocolate, which we both LOVE. :-D First I pan-fried the bananas with some butter (after flattening them a little) and I turned them around and around until they're soft...then after that I added some cheese all over it (better use grated cheese) plus some chocolate sauce. Better eaten warm. Yum yum...Here's a pic of it if you want to see: Pisang Keju.
Yesterday my Finnish teacher gave us homework. We are supposed to write her either a letter or a diary. She wants to know how far our Finnish ability actually is. Hmmm...I think I'll go with the diary form instead of a letter. That way I can tell her how my days are until our next lesson on Tuesday. I'm not going to ask for my hubby's help 'coz it's called cheating he he he...I was actually hoping to write something in class instead of at home. Why? Because it'll reveal our true ability even better than if we have time to open up our grammar books at home before we write something. Oh well...let's see what I can come up with he he he he...I feel like I'm going to cheat anyway 'coz I'll look up some words in the dictionary and I'll browse the grammar in my grammar books, but I guess it's only natural for a beginner to do, eh?
Enough about that. This morning I dreamt of my Mom's knee again. In my dream, she started feeling pains again on her knee and I woke up worried. So I sent an SMS to my brother, asking him if our parents were fine. He said that my Mom was a bit under the weather last week. I told him that if she doesn't get well soon, she should go to the doctor right away. My Mom is such a "naughty" woman. If she feels that she can still handle any pain or illness, she doesn't want to go to the doctor. Once it's all BEYOND her ginormous strength, then she'll finally reluctantly go to the doctor. GRRRRRRRRRR!!! That's caused us to worry about her over the years. She's a REALLY strong woman with such a high threshold of pain, but still if a doctor can help her out, why suffer, right? That's what doctors are for he he he he...
Two days ago hubby came back home with a box of Christmas lights for our balcony. YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!! I'm SO HAPPY about it!!! I'll take a pic once he puts the lights on our balcony, OK? We won't put up a Christmas tree, so having some balcony lights would be nice. I've seen our neighbour put up his balcony lights even from weeks ago!!!
One funny thing was that before I moved here, I had always thought that the temperature would be "steady". I mean if it went down to -20'C, then the next day and whole week's temperature would range around that degree. I was wrong. It could go up and down pretty quickly, actually. Today it's only 1'C and it's snowing outside. I once asked my hubby, "Hey, I thought it could only snow when it's below 0'C!"
He said, "Well, up in the sky it IS colder than 0'C!"
Oh yeah...it didn't cross my mind HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
OK, now I have to go to the library to return a book and buy some milk and then I'll go visit your blogs he he he he he...Oh, and I have to do my homework as well...have to write daily he he he he...
