It was snowing crazily yesterday morning and I had an early shift. I had already anticipated it, because Friday was also another snowy and windy day. It was fascinating to see the wind blowing up the snowy particles in the air like dust circling up to the sky. Yesterday I couldn't ride my bike to work, because it was way too early and the snow was coming down hard and the pavement hadn't been cleared from snow yet.
It was pretty rough to walk on the sidewalk and then I noticed someone riding a bike along the side of the main road, so I decided to walk there, too. Mind you, they had cleared up most of the snow from the main road, so it was easier to walk there ha ha...And because it was so early, there was hardly any traffic (well, not that it's ever been that busy over here anyways). About 200 metres away from my workplace, a car slowly stopped next to me. Turned out it was my boss' car, so I could get a lift to work the rest of the way ha ha ha...My eyebrows were wet by the time I arrived at work as it was snowing right to my face the whole time I was walking to work.
After work we went to my MIL's and I started making a snowman right away. It was really perfect weather as it was wet enough at 0'C, so the snow was pliable and easy to mold. Here are two photos of my upside-down, big-headed snowman he he he he...
My highlight of that day was that when I was making the body, a squirrel came by and watched me curiously from about a metre away. If I made a sudden movement, it'd jolt and scurry behind the tree trunk, but then it kept on watching me for about a few minutes before it finally went over to the bird feeder to eat. Very cute!!! Here are some pics of the peeping squirrel he he he...
Last night all the snow turned to slush because the temperature rose to 1'C. I just checked the temperature outside and it's as warm as 4'C now and it's very very wet. I'd rather have all the snow melted away and then new snow can come in its place without melting away again, because it's really dangerous to have some parts of the snow melt away and then refreeze during the night. Oh well...we shall see what kind of winter we're going to have now. One thing is for sure, though: I can't survive without my light box. The other week I decided to skip using it for a day, but I felt SO SO SO tired that day, so I will never skip using my light box until it gets bright enough outside again.
I've seen pictures of Splat Cat on the internet and since then I've been dying to try it out, but never really did it. Today I realized that it was sunny outside (around 9'C) and there's still some snow left in our yard (in the spots that get less sunshine), so I went out and made one.
Here are two pics of it. One from a regular angle and another one taken from down there. I tried taking one from above but didn't turn out too well (sorry, I'm too short LOL!). Decided to just use a stick as the tail. :-D
It snowed for hours again last Saturday, though the temperature stayed around 5'C so the snow didn't pile up the way it was days before. On Sunday I was thinking of clearing up some bits of snow from the yard, but then decided to make a snowman instead. This time I ended up making a snow bunny he he he he he he...actually I made two versions of it. I decided to make use of the rest of the snow, considering this is probably the last time I can make a snowman this year. Imagine making a snowman in the beginning of May!HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
It was much easier to make the snowball and mold it compared to when the temperature was 0'C or -1'C with no sun. It was around 4'C at that time and the sun was shining, so the snow got wet enough. When it was 0'C or -1'C without any sun, it was much harder work to make the snowball and mold it the way I wanted it to. Anyway, while making the snow bunny, I had a feeling that someone was watching me, so I turned around a few times but couldn't see anyone. What a disturbing feeling! Here are some pics of my snow bunnies. The first one is a plain one and the second one is a spotted one (decorated by orange peels LOL!). Which one do you like best? I wanted to make the ears bigger and longer, but I was afraid they'd flop and fall down and end up ruining the ears altogether, so I stuck with these smaller ones. I also tried changing the mouth with the orange peels, but they kept on falling off, so I decided to use the same material for the mouth as the first version.
After I was done, I took some pictures and after that I wanted to show it off to R2. He said calmly, "Oh, I've seen it." I asked back, "When?" He replied, "While you were making it." HUHHHH?!?!?!?! So he was the one who made me feel like someone was watching me! My instinct was right! Turned out he was having coffee in the kitchen at that time, so he had full access to my snowman making activity LOL LOL!!! No wonder!!! P.S. I tagged my brother on the first bunny pic in FB and he wrote, "The bunny looks possessed!" ARRRGGGHHH!!! How dare he! I'm going to spank him when I get back to Indo later this year LOL!!! Just kidding! ;-P
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
1. Me: "How much do you love me?" Hubby: "Too much." Me: HUGE SMILE + HEART melting. :-D 2. Winter Wonderland is finally here, though that doesn't mean that the snow won't melt and refreeze, but at least I've been enjoying the view so much because of all the white snow. :-D 3. An old customer (a retired guy) said, "If only I still had my own business, I'd hire you right away." This sentence made me thank him, laugh, and it also made the customer behind him smile (which made me smile even wider). BLESS HIM!!! :-D 4. About a month ago I was tempted to buy this cute little jacket for my brother's second son, but even after the discount I still thought it was a bit too expensive. Last week the shop put up a sign saying that they had put bigger discounts on them, so I went in there to check it out and they still had two of the jackets that I was interested in buying and guess what? It was only one third of the price that I saw, so I grabbed it right away and paid for it. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!! :-D SO HAPPY to find superb bargains! :-D 5. It snowed for hours on end on Friday and here are two pictures I took. The second picture was taken two hours later.
6. Today the temperature was 1'C and it had been snowing again during the morning, so I went out to clean up the snow and hubby helped, so I went to make this happy-go-lucky snowman he he...:-D "Oh, what fun it was to make this snowman in the yaaarrrrddd!" LOL LOL!!!
Yesterday I was reading posts about online social media, particularly F-b.ook. I must say that I have a love-and-hate relationship with it. There were times when I was thinking of quitting it completely, but it's hard nowadays 'coz I've got a mixture of people in my list already and now I've joined an online Finnish group where I can ask anything to the teacher and get to know other people who are learning Finnish from around the world.
Besides that, it's a really good place to get in touch with old school friends and nowadays my closest friends use it to put their travel pictures and other pictures as well - it's easier sharing pictures that way compared to sending them via emails 'coz some of us live in a place where the internet connection isn't so reliable and fast. It's also a good place to try and sell things to your friends and to ask for opinions on something (provided that your friends are active).
But other than the good sides, sometimes I feel that browsing through F-b.ook is like being a Peeping Tom. There are some people who share too much and sometimes when you least expect it, you get to read those things and it feels as if you were suddenly transported into the person's underwear closet and you're shown all the kinds of "dirty laundry" that you don't even wish to see.
Of course you can hide that person's newsfeed once you find out that the person loves sharing too much info, but then again there are still so many other complications that can occur by spending time in online social medias, such as being unfriended by someone or unfriending someone, the urge to ask the person what you did wrong after being unfriended, the lingering question whether you should explain to the person you're going to unfriend why you want to do that, the temptation to "peek into" other people's lives, the thin line between sharing and showing off, etc. etc. etc.
Anyway, enough about this...the other day I made another snowman 'coz the temperature was 0'C and the snow was wet enough to make one. The pictures were taken at around 3.30 pm.
First pic: taken with a flash.
2nd pic: Taken without flash.
3rd pic: Taken without flash from a different angle.
Feeling SO sleepy now 'coz I had a bit of a hard time to sleep last night. Why? Four days of holiday (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon) made me sleep late and wake up late, so when it was time to sleep last night, my body wasn't used to the usual schedule anymore. Ugh...
However, that didn't stop me from making a snowman in our yard today HA HA HA...here's my latest creation. Wanted to make a MUCH bigger one, but didn't have enough energy. Besides, 'coz again I couldn't simply roll a small ball around to make a big ball, making this one took a lot of time 'coz I had to build it the hard way - one handful of snow at a time.
The difference is that this snowman has eyebrows HA HA HA HA HA...and also "arms" and hands.
Went by bike to work today, though it took a long time 'coz there was slush and ice and water everywhere. If I had ridden my bike fast, I'd have fallen so easily in many parts. Good thing was that I could see the GROUND/GRASS in some parts already. WOOOHOOO!!! Spring is definitely here! The temperature today is around 5'C, SO warm!
1. Holding hubby from the back when he's sitting on the long kitchen bench. Feels SO GOOD to hold him like that!
2. Making a snowman in April HUA HA HA HA HA HA...I decorated the snowman using the bird seeds scattered on the ground under the bird feeders.
3. Looking at this: Such a WARM day!
4. Getting a CUTE compact new vacuum cleaner. It's VERY VERY light (unlike the old one), so I had no trouble getting it up and down the stairs HO HO HO HO HO...
5. Chatting with one of my best friends for about an hour today.
6. Not worrying about fresh water supply. The other week there was water trouble in my in-laws' place 'coz it seemed in that area the water pipes froze, so they couldn't get water for some time and that made me realize how much we take for granted the abundant fresh water supply.
7. Holding a child's hand while he was getting ready to take a nap - while listening to the teacher reading a story and getting a smile from him when I held his hand.
8. Hubby holding my hand when I was afraid to walk on some slippery ice towards the car in my in-laws' yard.
I've been a lazy blogger lately. I haven't been blogging nor bloghopping much. I just don't feel like it. Anyway, yesterday we had Wii game night with R2's brother. His girlfriend couldn't come due to something, so it was just the three of us, 'coz R2's cousin wasn't feeling well, so he cancelled coming here.
It was SO MUCH FUN!!! However, I must PROTEST 'coz when we played tennis, I had to be ALONE (playing two characters at once), whereas R2 and his brother could play in pair. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...Of course I lost in the end, but it wasn't too embarrassing 'coz I won 2 games out of 5 he he he...
Then we played Rayman Raving Rabbids and we tried 3 dance games there. It was SO funny when we tried to follow the directions on screen HUI HI HI HI HI HI HI HI...
We spent 5 hours playing Tiger Woods golf game as we decided to play 18 holes he he he...I came second and R2 lost. Poor R2 he he he he he he...
On Friday we went to the cabin to spend a lovely night there. The sun was shining so brightly when we got up. It was hard to get back to sleep since the windows had no dark curtains. I made a short video clip to show you the "road" from the cabin to my in-laws' place just so you know how close it is. Here goes:
If you watch the video clip, you'll notice piles of snow on both sides of the "road" from the cabin towards the house. R2's second brother had to clear up the "road" a few days before so that we could go to the cabin by car, because otherwise we couldn't have gone to the cabin.
This week is my last week in the Finnish classes as they have run out of budget to support me and my friends who aren't really students in the school. So starting next week I've got no more homework. :-(((( But my friends and I MAY organize some kind of study group on our own. We'll see about that.
Meanwhile, it's been pretty warm these days. Saturday it was around 5'C, so I decided to make a snowman albeit without face and arms ha ha ha ha...Here's a pic of my snowman. Can you believe making a snowman in APRIL?!?!?!?! It can only happen here in northern Finland hi hi hi hi hi hi...Anyway, if you wonder about my outfit, it's because I just came out of sauna, so I was feeling SO hot. I didn't need any jacket he he he...
And here is a pic that I took at around 8.10 pm on Saturday. Look how bright it is!!! Midnight Sun is coming SOON he he he he...
And when I looked at this, I felt GLAD I had my camera with me, so I took it out as quickly as possible HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
OK, so there goes my weekend. Now I need to read my grammar book for tomorrow. I've got some homework!!!! :-D I'll blog-hop later today.
1. Blueberry porridge made by my mother-in-law. YUM YUM and healthy too!!! ;-D
2. Mother-in-law caressed my hair and said, "Oh, so long and thick..." It was the first time she had ever done it. I guess she must've been curious about Asian hair, just as I was curious about how it felt like to touch blonde hair he he he he...
3. Hearing my hubby's laughter and giggle and his crazy songs and joking about his songs and his "albums". (Yes, sometimes he creates crazy songs, esp. in sauna HA HA HA HA HA HA)
4. Sauna, sauna, saunaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! I can NEVER get enough of sauna, especially in winter HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
5. Getting a chance to make another snowmannnnnnnnnnnnn. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! I LOVED the exercise, too! *wink wink*
6. Watching my mother-in-law helping her hubby put on a long-sleeved shirt and buttoning it up and watching my father-in-law being humble enough to let his wife do such a thing. Then they talked about something and laughed together. Mmmm...such a loving atmosphere!!!
FINAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYY I had an opportunity to make another snowman HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE...Since yesterday it was so wet everywhere since the temperature rose up to 2'C, so the snow was melting everywhere. Plus this morning it was raining water for a while. I was hoping for the rain to stop. It did stop after a while but it changed into snow since the temperature dropped to below 0'C again after midday. Right after lunch, I went out to find out if I could make another snowman. And I COULD!!!
This time I didn't roll the snow into big balls. I cheated ha ha ha ha ha...I used a shovel to gather all the snow around my snowman and I patched it up to make it plump and round. I did it ALL BY MYSELF and it was SO tiring! I wouldn't have been able to make it on my own if I made the snowballs first the usual way, 'coz I had to put the balls on top of the big one and it would drain my stamina!!! Even though I cheated, I was sweating like a pig after I was done. Plus my nose was runny all the time. It probably took me 45 minutes or maybe close to an hour to make this snowman all by myself. It was really good exercise. I bet tomorrow my body will be sore ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...
Trin, I'll do the name on the snow thingie later, OK? There'll still be plenty of snow to do that later on, but the weather won't stay this wet all the time so there're less opportunities to make a snowman. Besides, by the time I was done with this snowman, I was SO tired he he he he he he...
Anyway, without further ado, here are the pics.
First pic: Only two snowballs there. You can see the shovel I used in the first two pics.
Second pic: The sky is SO dark already he he he he he...It was around 2 pm.
Third pic: Sorry, folks...my nose was still runny and my face was SO red ha ha ha ha...and look at my DAMP hair!!!! ;-D
Ta-daaaa....finally it was decorated, but still armless, I'm afraid ha ha ha ha...I actually wanted to make a much bigger snowman but I was too tired. Phew!!! It was really hard work he he he...At least this time it's MUCH plumper, don't you think so? ;-D Hope you like the pics!!!
Boy, I have SO MANY things to say but I can't possibly say all those things in one post, so let me just keep this one light he he he...
First of all, I wanna thank MICHELLE from Crow's Feet. Her Christmas card arrived today. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! I'm SO HAPPY!!!!! *bouncing up and down in joy*
Second of all, since the weather's been wet these past few days, yesterday when hubby came home from work, he said, "Now that it's THIS wet, you can make another snowman on Saturday." I was SO ecstatic that it must've shown on my face. Hubby said, "Look at you!!!" while grinning ear-to-ear HE HE HE HE HE...Why, of course I'm happy! I DO want to make a bigger snowman and I don't want to have to wait till next yearrrrrr!!!
The other day I also asked him when I could try miniskiing again. He said, "Next year." So it seems we'll try miniskiing again next March he he he he...YIIIPPIIIIIEEEE!!! Will I do better this time? Only time will tell. I have to strengthen my arm muscles first so that I can get up on my own if I fall down (which I presume WILL happen still) HA HA HA HA HA...
Yesterday my Brit friend told me that one of our Russian friends in the Finnish classes (not the Russian lady I met at the cafe the other day) had given birth to a baby girl. The baby is 4.2 kg. Such a HUGE baby!!! I was born 3.3 kg and I was considered big already, esp. since my Mom's as "tall" as I am (145 cm) HA HA HA HA HA...But both of us have big hips, so that must've helped, too! ;-D
Anyway, let me tell you a funny story about my birth. Back then there was no USG, so there was no way the doctor could know the sex of the baby. Mom said that they checked the baby's health by using some kind of tool to listen to the baby's heartbeat. So the tool is like a big horn which is pressed to the belly of the pregnant mother and it's moved around so that the doctor can hear the baby's heartbeat he he he...So when I was born, the nurse told my Mom, "Ma'am, you just had a healthy baby girl."
My Mom said to her, "Good. That's what the father wanted."
The nurse looked at my Mom quizzically and asked politely, "Excuse me, aren't you Chinese? I thought Chinese people usually want to have a baby boy as their first born."
Mom replied, "Yes, I am Chinese, but the baby's father wanted to have a girl as his first born."
This is one reason why I'll always LOVE my Dad he he he...He's unconventional in this matter HA HA HA HA HA HA...;-D
As you all probably know, I made my own snowman yesterday with the help of my hubby. Making a snowman wasn't as easy as I thought. I'd always thought that it'd be easy to make round balls and then combine them into a big snowman. Wrong!!! First of all, the snow had to be a bit wet so that the snow particles would be stuck to one another. Otherwise it'd just be like trying to make a sand castle from dry sand.
Hubby taught me how to make it at first. He made a small snowball and told me to roll it over. He said that apparently the snow wasn't too wet, so every now and then some part of the ball I made kept on falling off to the ground, so I had to press it back to the big ball. After a while, I couldn't even care less anymore whether it was totally round or not as long as I could make it big enough for the bottom part of the snowman. Boy, the snowball got SO heavy after a while that I started sweating profusely!!!
Once I was done, I had to make the second one he he he...This time it was easier to make as I knew already what to do. All this while, my nose got SO runny but I didn't want to stop yet as I had to take off one glove to get the tissue from my pants' pocket. So imagine me rolling down a snowball with a runny nose hi hi hi hi...Not exactly a good image, isn't it? Next time I try making a snowman, I think I'd better plug my nose with some tissue hi hi hi hi hi hi hi...
Anyway, then hubby put the second snowball on top of the bigger one and he said I still had to make another one for the face. I couldn't care less and let him make the smallest snowball. I was so busy adding more and more snow to both of my snowballs to make my snowman look "plumper". I didn't want to make a skinny snowman, thank you very much. It wouldn't look good he he he he he...My nose started to get runny again and I was still sweaty...but finally after a long while (I got a bit obsessed patching up my snowman with more snow to make it plumper), we were done.
I ran inside to get my camera and my mother-in-law told me that I need some decorations for the mouth and eyes and stuff, so she opened up this little hatch beneath the fireplace and took out some embers of wood (side note: I don't know if embers is the correct term for it, so correct me if you know the right one) and put them inside a plastic bag. By that time, Arttu got inside the house as he probably thought it took me a long time to get my camera ha ha ha...
I went outside again to decorate my snowman but turned out it wasn't that easy either to jam those stuff to the snowball, so I let Arttu do it after I put the eyes. He came outside bringing a blue pipo (woolen cap) for the snowman he he he he he...Too bad we didn't find any fallen branches to make the arms, but anyhow, WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's two pics of the snowman he he he...What do you think? ;-D
Next time I'll remember to bring some clothes to change as my T-shirt got SO wet already by the time I finished making this snowman. I told hubby that I wanted to make a snow woman next to him and he joked to me, "Yeah, leave them there for a night and the next morning there'll be a snow kid." LOL LOL!!!
Speaking of our health...now hubby's voice is SEXY. You know what I mean, right? When your nose is runny, then your voice starts to be sexy ha ha ha ha...I think I've been safe so far 'coz we've avoided kissing each other's lips for a few days...I MISS kissing his lips!!! Oh...the things we take for granted!!! Tsk...I can't wait to kiss his lips again. This is PURE TORTURE!!! He he he he he...
Anyway, other than my snowman pic, I want to share Lapland pics with you. Here are some pics taken while I was going out the other day. This is November in Lapland and here are the view of the streets I usually walked by when going downtown.
First pic: the street right outside our apt. building.
Second pic: for some reason I've always loved looking at this house, esp. in summer there'll always be plenty of flowers in the garden and a small elf statue outside. ;-D
Third pic: This is a part of downtown Sodankylä. The part that said "Kirppis" is the flea market that I often visit. The other two next to it are beauty salons. ;-D
Fourth pic: Another view of the street near my apt. building, taken from the other end.
Fifth pic: Just a pic of the snowy branches he he he he he...I find it fascinating to see! ;-D
Last pic: A pic taken when it was already dark. It was around 7 pm when I took this pic if I remember correctly. This pic was taken in the parking lot of our apt. building.
1. Talking to my brother and my Mom via Skype. They're a bit under the weather due to the changing season, but they're fine and the wedding invitations are all printed and ready to be sent.
2. Watching shimmery snow under my feet. When I walked outside as it got dark, I realized that under the light of the street lamps, snow looked like a sheet of gazillion tiny particles of diamonds, shimmering in the dark. It was SO lovely! All those years watching snow on TV, nobody's ever told me about this! It was SO magical! I wish you could see it for yourself (for those who haven't experienced it): sparkly, shimmery snow...mmmmm...
3. The joy of making my first "perfect" cake for Father's Day with hubby's help he he he he he...
4. Tucking hubby under the blanket on the couch after he got home from work. Mmmm...
5. Seeing my in-laws and hubby enjoying the cake I made and then hearing them say, "It's GOOD." Ahhhhh...such a delicious feeling!!! *wink*
6. MAKING MY OWN SNOWMAN with the help of hubby! He he he he he...I'll post it tomorrow he he he...
7. Eating hot reindeer soup made by mother-in-law as it was snowing outside. I was craving for soup, soup, soup he he he he...
8. Finding a cheaper Dean Koontz book online to buy for my hubby's Christmas gift ho ho ho ho ho ho...SPLENDID!!!
9. Coming home in the car, feeling like I was being on top of the world and then flying he he he he he...I could feel my entire body bursting with joy, joy, joy!!! I could literally feel every pore in my body bubbling over with joy. It felt SO good to magnify every single WONDERFUL moment that I had experienced and absorb it completely.
