Inflammation

I have several reasons why I haven't been blogging, but the latest reason is that I've been having trouble with my wrist/hand/arm. First there was ganglion cyst, but it disappeared on its own after some rest and after I started wearing a thumb/wrist stabiliser at work. The stabiliser helped me at work, but apparently my wrist hasn't completely healed yet as the inflammation flared up again. So now I'm again banned from doing anything strenuous. Not sure how long it's going to take. I guess it's going to take as long as it takes. Definitely bad timing for me to have a long sick leave at work since it's near Christmas, but it's not that I want to experience something like this. 

The doc prescribed me a stronger dose of pain killer last Friday, but after taking two pills I had a allergic reaction to it, so I stopped taking it immediately. The pain has subsided a lot now, but I still don't dare do anything strenuous as the doc told me that I could only start gentle stretches in a week. 

This problem has made me realized just how often we rely on using our fingers/wrist/hand movements each day. And it also makes me feel awed at those people who've managed to live their lives with less limbs (or even without limbs). 

OK, time for me to rest up my hand again. I made this with an app on my mobile, so the quality of the photo was reduced a lot, but anyway, just want to show you a lovely pink sky that I saw sometime last week. This is a photo of semi-frozen river downtown.

 

Slow Down!

My new fave type of snow is the kind that falls down very slowly on a colder day (meaning dry snow) with snowflakes big enough that my eyes keep wanting to check their shapes. Because it's dry snow, when the snowflakes pile up, their form is still intact. It's quite disconcerting to ride my bike when my eyes keep on glancing towards the snowflakes that have fallen on the sleeves of my parka, trying to make out their shapes ha ha ha ha ha...But what makes me love it so much is the fact that it feels like it's breathing slowly. I know it's weird to say it like this, but the slowness of the speed reminds me to slow down. Slow down! Why are you in such a hurry? Stop and admire the snowflakes for a change. 

Another thing I love about Finland is their sauna culture. In sauna, you can't exactly do anything much. Besides, even if you want to do many things, it can be way too hot in there that all you want to do is just sit there and enjoy the heat and humidity, especially on dark cold winter days. Sometimes we talk in sauna, sometimes we sing each other crazy songs, sometimes we just sit still and say nothing, but we've been doing one particular thing for sure lately: back scratch. I scratch his back, he scratches mine. And then we purr together HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHH...

I feel that going to sauna is good for the soul, because it's also a chance to slow down, to stay away from all electronic devices, to connect. 

Here are some photos I've taken on different days. 

First photo: notice how the branches of the trees are curving down so badly due to the weight of the snow.

Second photo: a sunny day when I was on my way to work. Just had to take the photo as it was such a brilliant day.

The next photos were taken yesterday with my mobile again. I should've tried using the automatic setting as well to see if it'll take clearer details compared to this "snow" setting. Oh well, next time.

Notice the difference between this pink sky and the one I took on my previous blog post. :-D

Cold January, January Cold

Been battling a cold this week. The first few nights I couldn't sleep too well because of a semi-blocked nose plus some sinus problem. I used my beloved Neti Pot lots of times to help clear out my nose, but the annoying pressure on my upper teeth was still there for many days (kinda like a toothache, but I know it's not because I feel it on many teeth, particularly the upper back teeth). And then I remembered that I had actually brought some antihistamine with me from Indo during our last trip there, so I decided to take one tablet. I slept like a log that night, though I woke up with a very dry throat. I only woke up at 1 pm because my body needed the sleep after not having slept enough. 

Then yesterday as I still felt the annoying pressure during the day, I decided to take one more tablet in the afternoon. It made me feel lethargic and I fell asleep for a while when we were watching a movie ha ha ha ha ha ha...It was so hard to stay awake! 

Today no more pressure on the teeth! FREEDOMMMMM!!! It's an annoying feeling that makes me want to grind my teeth together all the time. The only bad side effect of the antihistamine is that it only makes the mucus thicker, so yesterday I used my Neti Pot many times over to help clear it out of my system and I'm going to do it today as well. Still less appetite than normal, but I do eat normally.

It's been cold again outside (ranging from -24'C to -34'C) and the other day when I went out to check the mail, I saw this gorgeous pink sky, so I took a pic with my mobile. 

I'm actually glad that I'm sick this week, because next week I have to go to a funeral. I hope it won't be too cold then, otherwise we'll have to dress up in so many layers and then it's a hassle to take them off at church. Before moving to Finland, I used to think that people who wore winter clothes looked so lovely in their winter gear, but now I realize how impractical sometimes when the weather is so cold outside and then you have to put on so many layers of clothing. All the more so if you have children (small children who can't dress up themselves just yet) and you have to prepare them to get layered up nicely first and when you yourself are getting ready, they're complaining that they're way too hot he he he he...

Anyway, I've chosen my word of the year this year and it'll be PATIENCE. Are you going to choose your word of the year? I've only tried it last year and I think it has helped me in a way, so this year I'm going to try again. :-D

Christmas Day Sky Galore

We had a relaxing Christmas and on Christmas Day, I woke up at around 10 am and then went out for a walk as the sun was rising and I noticed that the sky was absolutely gorgeous. I knew I only had limited time to enjoy the sky (perhaps around half an hour), so I went out to take some photos and videos. 

Photos can't do justice as the beautiful hues are everywhere around me, so took some videos with my new mobile phone to test out how good the result could be. The fingers of my right hand were totally frozen and painfully numb as I had to take off my right hand glove to take the videos. The temperature was -25'C. It took at least five more minutes before I could feel my hand again, but it was worth the pain he he he he he he...As the different hues were across the whole sky, as I was walking to the bridge of Kitinen River, I even walked backwards at some point during my walk just to admire the different colours at different parts of the sky. Awesome!

But first, here are some photos...Click to see bigger views. Enjoy!

And here are the two videos...

36th Birthday Cabin Trip

Yesterday was my birthday and on Friday hubby took a day off so that we could go to the cabin before it got dark. He was afraid that if he worked that day, he may have had to stay longer at work. After all, we only get about 3 hours of daylight now as we move rapidly towards Winter Solstice where the sun doesn't even rise at all. Since there isn't that much snow yet, we could still make it to the cabin by car. It was more convenient this way because then he could bring a lot of firewood.

It has been a cloudy weekend, so we didn't really see any gorgeous sky or starry sky, though I saw some flashes of pink sky during sunset. Usually hubby is the one who ends up doing most of the stuff, but this time I wanted to try making a hole in the ice by myself (we need the water from the lake for sauna, you see). When I stepped on the frozen lake, I was a bit afraid if it would break, but when I started using the ice pick to make the hole, I realized just how thick it was. I stopped lots of time in between picking the ice with the ice pick to take photos of the sky. It was rather fascinating to see just how fast the sky changed in just 10 minutes or so.

The ice was at least 13 cm thick, so it took a lot of time before I could finally get some water. YYYEEEEEEEEESSS!!!! It felt good to be able to do the task HE HE HE HE HE...Hubby had to get more firewood and chop them off into smaller pieces (that also took a while). After that the party began ha ha ha ha...my kind of party. Just listening to music on the radio, going to sauna together, cooking the food in the fireplace, chilling out just the two of us. Bliss! What do I feel about turning 36? Thankful that I'm still given time to be alive. :-)

The temperature was about -1'C, though it probably dropped down a bit to -5'C during the night. It was a bit foggy when we arrived there, but for some reason it made me feel even more secluded from the rest of the world, because I could barely see the row of trees across the lake.

Anyway, here are some pics that I took:

The cabin from the back side:

Lots and lots of candles!

The sky when we first arrived:

The ice pick photo with the same background (about 43 minutes later, when the sky started to open up a little):

More photos of pinkish sky:

Okay, I need to go to bed earlier now (or at least try to). I have an early shift tomorrow. Hope you're all doing fine, people!

3BT: Random Days

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: 

3BT: Random Days

1. Watching the sky gradually turn pink at work. First there was some baby blue colour at the bottom and then it went to soft pink and more pink at the top...the pink colour slowly spread out until the baby blue colour at the bottom was covered by it. And then the sun came out and many people commented on how great it felt to be able to see the sun again. After the sun set again, the sky turned baby blue once more. Ahhhh...so beautiful!

P.S: These two pics I put here were taken a few days ago. Not the best angles, but I just didn't feel like going farther away to take better pics ha ha...

2. R2 was playing some computer game and then I fed him some salmiakki candies and asked, "Do you feel like a king now?"

He said, "Well, now I could use a drink."

I laughed, saying, "Don't you think you're asking too much?"

He shook his head and said no.

I went to get some drink for him and he said thank you, then I asked again, "Now do you feel like a king?"

He said, "Yep, and you're my queen." LOL!!!

3. Had some salted peanuts while watching TV. When we were going to bed, I farted and it smelled like peanuts. Ewwwwww...grossly fun! :-D

4. The moment when someone else laughs/giggles so much until he/she cries and even though you think that the cause of the outburst is not funny, you still want to laugh along simply because the sight of seeing someone laugh that much is so contagious!

5. After freezing days, the temperature went up drastically and I got sweaty just by riding my bike to work. It's always a nice surprise to feel that way!

6.  I saw a very cute animal pic on FB and I was aww-ing over it while telling R2. R2 had no reaction whatsoever. So I asked him, "Okaaaayyy, then what do you consider cute?"

He pointed at me right away. :-D

An Old Post: Don't Let Me Get Me (Pink)

I posted this in my old blog on January 7, 2007.

Dedicated to all the sufferers of I-hate-myself syndrome out there...

Pink's song just popped out in my head
after I discussed this syndrome with my close friends.

Yeah, sometimes (or oftentimes) we ARE our own worst enemies.

Cure for this disease?

Once I read this quotation (too bad I don't remember who said it):

Start loving yourself as if you were loving someone else,

And you'll be surprised at your ability to love yourself more than before.

Enjoy the video!!!