Wet Midsummer Eve

I survived the tough work week without having to go to the doc, even though I had to ask to switch a shift with another friend because I was scheduled to work close to food and I still had a runny nose and an annoying cough. Thankfully Thursday night I managed to sleep non-stop because I really needed the rest, so on Friday everything went OK.

Went to Kelujärvi right after work. It was raining and R2 was adamant in grilling some food outside ha ha ha ha...it was about 3'C. It kept on raining and raining and raining, but at some point it turned into very light rain, so R2 went out to light the grill ha ha ha ha...by the time the food was done, it rained even more. 

It also rained for hours on end today until the sky finally cleared up at around 6 pm and then the sun started shining. The temperature at the moment is around 10'C (under the sun probably around 12'C). 

The good thing about all the rain was that I got lots of shots of beautiful raindrops on plants. :-D Enjoy the photos! :-D I'm still recuperating from the runny nose and the cough (it's amazing how much mucus and phlegm a single body can produce, I tell ya!) and yesterday for some reason my stomach was acting up (had to go to the toilet 7 times that day), but thankfully today is a better day. Take care, people! 

P.S. Any fave photo(s)?

3BT: Random Days

1. Didn't need to worry about the funeral bouquet after all. Showed them to MIL including the note that we'd write down on the card and she approved them both. She even choked a little when reading the note, so today I ordered it and turned out I only had to pay after the funeral. Ha! 

2. Amazingly HOT HOT HOT days for the past week. It's unbelievable it can be this hot this long at the end of May already. I'm sure it's an exception and it won't happen often, but I'm enjoying it.

3. Riding my bike at full speed and sweating so much even though I only put on a tank top and shorts. YIIIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!


4. The portable air cooler that we bought last year proved to be even more useful this year for our upstairs bedroom. :-D

5. Rain!!!! After such hot days the rain comes down to quench the trees and grass in our yard - free water YEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!! :-D

6. Excited about going back to work tomorrow with a little hint of nervousness 'coz I hope I remember everything I need to remember hi hi...the brain always works a little more slowly at work when it's just got back from holiday LOL!!!


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7. Found cheap black shoes for the funeral (all of my black shoes are winter boots and all of my summer shoes are sneakers!) as well as a cheap black bolero at huuto.net to accompany my black dress. :-D Now I'm all ready for the funeral! 

8. Thankfully we brought R2's wedding outfit here along with the black shoes, so he doesn't have to buy anything for the funeral.

9. After talking to someone, I realize even more than before that I've met so many nice, supportive people here in Sodankylä and again I'm SO THANKFUL for them and their support.  

10. Skipping lunch and eating ice-cream instead he he he he he he he hehhh...

11. Making watermelon, banana, grape, and blueberry juice. Yummy! :-D
 

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3BT: Random Days

1. Hubby helping me set something that I failed to do on my own and he never made me feel like an idiot for not being able to do it.

2. A customer said one of the nicest things I'd ever heard in my entire life. He made my day (and made my eyes wet)!!! :-D Bless him!

3. Rainy day at work the other day helped me and my supervisor. It especially helped my supervisor 'coz she has a lot more things to do than I do.

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4. A sunny day after the rainy day. :-D

5. Missing hubby. After spending a whole month holiday and then going back to work, I missed spending more time with him.

6. Sturdy raincoat. Big, protective, and comfy enough for me to wear while riding my bike under the downpour.

7. Another customer (an old lady) said that I had been missed at work during my holiday. Bless her!

8. Finally getting some free days from work - due to some sick coworkers I've had my plate full at work.

9. Wonderful memories - and reminiscing them.

10. Clean air, abundance of clean water, and the lack of noise and traffic.

3BT: Random Days

1. Fresh peaches on a hot summer day. When I lived in Indo, I had never eaten fresh peaches - just canned ones (and I LOVE those canned ones too!) But still no canned peaches can beat fresh ones! Yum yum...

2. Feeling surprised when I saw the rose bush in (almost) full bloom today...look at these lovely pics!





3. Watching droplets of rain water on the flowers' petals:




4. Finding discounted DVDs in a supermarket and now that I have some spare time, I can watch them in peace.

5. It's nice to have a part-time job instead of a full-time job 'coz then I have time to tend to my garden, to watch the above DVDs, and do many other things.

6. Hubby's initiative (can't tell you what he did, though) LOL...

7. Finding a new type of flower blooming in the garden. If anyone can tell me the name of the flower, I'd appreciate it!!! The diameter of the flower is about 3.5 cm.


8. Exercising some parts of my muscles that I didn't know existed with my Wii CD. Felt GREAT after I finished my exercise. Can't wait to do more exercise tomorrow (to help me sleep earlier 'coz gotta do a morning shift on Thursday). :-D :-D :-D

9. Both my parents are OK and enjoying life and my brother and his family are OK too.

10. Thankful that summer here isn't THAT hot - we can survive well without air-con or even a fan. All we need to do is open some windows during the day.

11. Mosquito net for the windows! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

12. Thankful that the first floor of our house is rather cold, so it's comfy to sit inside the house even on such a scorching day outside (it's even cooler than outside on such hot days).

3BT: Random Days

1. Canned lychees.

2. Strawberry kiisseli (it's some sort of soupy pudding) that MIL made.

3. Flowers blooming on a tree right behind the swing set in our yard and taking pics of the beautiful flowers:

4. Meeting friends and sitting on the above swing set with one of them while waiting for the rest to come (we had a nice time while swaying on the swing).

5. MIL taught me how to sew with her sewing machine (just a simple stitch work) 'coz I'd bought some fabric to make curtains.

6. After MIL taught me how to do it, I did the rest by myself and now I have two sets of CHEAP new curtains for the living room and bedroom.

7. Rain means that I don't have to water the plants in my garden.

8. Having spent a long time cleaning the front part of the house. It felt GREAT having so much time to be able to clean up the house properly bit by bit.

9. Listening to old songs in youtube (and singing along with them) that brought me back to the past...mmm...I LOVE searching for and finding old songs in youtube.

10. Having a loving, funny, caring, gentle, patient husband who hugs me a lot every day and who tells me he loves me at least once a day.

11. Finding out why I had been having trouble calling my parents with Skype and having a hubby who could fix the problem.

12. Talking to my Mom via Skype for over an hour with pretty good voice quality and she could hear me well again.

3BT: Highlights of the Past Month

1. Feeling like honeymoon again when coming back from my Indo trip. WHOOOPEEEEE!!!!!

2. MIL hugging me TIGHTLY and saying that she had missed me! :-D I had missed her too!

3. Being kissed by Ken on the cheek (without asking him to do so!).


4. Spending time with my family and friends in Bandung.

5. Going to the spa, going shopping a few times, and watching a movie with my Mom despite her current busy life as Ken's caretaker.

6. Being able to chat using a webcam with hubby during my Indo trip. THANK GOD for a faster internet connection in Indo, too!!!

7. All the glorious food and drinks that I could eat during my Indo trip - and I didn't have diarrhoea or any other health problems AT ALL during my trip.

8. Being able to meet about 17 of my ex-elementary school friends in a small gathering. It was FUN!!!

9. Getting enough sun and rain in Indo and when I got back to Finland, I got enough snow! :-D Couldn't have asked for more! ;-D



10. My priest asked me to come forward on the last Sunday I went to church in Bandung to pray for me and R2. He also prayed for our wish to have kids.

11. Hearing a story about my parents and knowing that God's angels had protected them from harm (I'll write about this later).

12. Playing with Ken and making him giggle so much! ;-D

13. Finding a strand of white hair - I've lived long enough to experience having at least one HUE HE HE HE HE...

14. Watching hubby's and MIL's expressions when they tried preserved seedless plum I bought in Hong Kong airport hi hi hi...SO FUNNY!!!

15. Being at home, being able to cook and experiment on cooking, being able to sleep on my own bed.

16. Christmas lights are up in our apartment - we don't have a Christmas tree, but we have some Christmas lights (not shown in the below pic, but just wanna show you how much snow we have now).



17. Finding some Christmas gifts for my loved ones today (and also I bought one for me HA HA HA...)

3BT: Random Days

1. Watching two birds dancing in somebody's lawn. They're shaking their tail feathers up and down and chirping merrily. Mmmmm...

2. Being able to go on this week's UNEXPECTED car trip and having enough money to do it.

3. Having a non-sensitive nose, yet still I have a healthy appetite. Not having a sensitive nose helps A LOT when there's some bad smell near you HE HE HE HE HE HE...

4. Eating out at a restaurant during this car trip. We haven't really done so since we don't want to pay too much for our food, but it's NICE to be able to do it every once in a while.

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5. Getting a new training place.

6. Getting delicious FREE cake on the last day of the course. We could also take a big piece of the cake home HUE HE HE HE HE HE...(Yeah, I'm a glutton!)

7. Sending someone a thank you note. :-))))

8. Hearing hubby say "thank you" a few times.









9. Hubby did something to help me, even though I didn't ask him to do it. I LOVE IT when he does this kind of stuff HE HE HE HE HE...



10. Watching droplets of rain water on these leaves in my MIL's garden...mmmmm...VERY beautiful! 

Weekend Photos

Today it rained a long time, even though it wasn't raining cats and dogs. What I love the most about this is that when it stopped raining, I could take pics of the flowers and leaves with droplets of water on them. They look VERY fresh he he he he...

Here are some flower pics I took last week:

Unfortunately last week was VERY windy, so it was hard for me to take close-up pics of these flowers since they kept on swaying with the wind. But still I think they look GORGEOUS, don't you think so?









I took this pic at around midnight, just when I was about to go to sleep, to show you how bright it was out there during summer in Lapland when the sun is shining outside. After all, the sun doesn't set for a while here in Lapland during summer. ;-D




And here are some pics I took today:




Here's a pic of me. While I was taking the pic, a sääski (that's what people here call the "mosquito" that tried to suck my blood!) happened to be in the picture, too. So just in case you wonder what they look like, here goes. You can click the image to view a bigger version.

Anyway, in the countryside or near forests they are EVERYWHERE!!! So we have to rub some mosquito repellant if we don't want to be bothered by those blood-sucking monsters he he he...Before I moved here, I had never thought that there would be mosquitoes of any sort here in Lapland.








Today's dessert at my MIL's: nougat vanilla ice cream and FRESH strawberries HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO...VERY yummy!!!!!!!



Okay, now time for me to relax. Tomorrow we should pack for our car trip and rest well. However, I've written down a couple of posts using draft blogger so that my blog isn't empty during the week I'm away from home he he he...

P.S. I talked a lot with my MIL today and she said that my Finnish was very good hi hi hi...I know my Finnish isn't that good (yet, maybe in a few years' time I'd reach that point), but it's just nice to be able to talk to her without having to ask hubby to help, you know? ;-D