3BT: Random Days

1. I bought a new blanket, but it was way too big and puffy to bring with me by bike, so I called hubby to take it with him in the car. Tried calling his mobile, but didn't pick up, so I ended up having to call his work phone. When he picked up, I immediately asked in English, "Hey, are you at the office?"

A second of hesitation later, he replied in English, "No."

Then I started explaining what I had done and I knew that he was at the office because I could see his car outside (the shop was near his office) and then he finally realized it was me.

Then I asked, "Why on earth did you say no at first?"

He replied, "I didn't recognize your voice at first, so I was confused." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...obviously he didn't have my number on his work phone, so he didn't know who it was and then I started babbling in English ha ha ha ha ha...funny!

2. When he got out of the office, my first thought was, "Damn, he's HOT!!!!"

It feels nice to feel this way still about him he he he...He's always SO patient with me, so I'm thankful for that.

3. Seeing two squirrels at the yard, right under the bird feeder. So cute!


4. Tomorrow is a holiday, so the store is closed and tonight I'll have a pre-Christmas party with my coworkers. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!!!

5. Finding cheap offers on meat and fish. They're now safely in the freezer for future use.

6. Frost. Beautiful glittery thin layer of frost everywhere. They're sparkly in the sun and under the street light.



7. Finally getting the hang of a new type of friendship that has evolved from an old type of friendship. It feels nice to be able to let go and finally adjust my expectations.

8. Ordering an early birthday present for myself (1 of the books in my wishlist) because Bookdepository gave me a 5% discount that would expire this weekend. Can't waiiiiiittttt!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

9. Almost forgot that Monday is our 8th wedding anniversary (FB reminded me of that LOL!!!). I just want to say I'm thankful that we've been given these years to spend together and I hope we will have many more to come. I still believe he's the one for me and he's becoming even more dear to me as time goes by.

10. Been trying to lose some weight by eating a plateful of salad at least 5 times a week. It's amazing how light my body feels after trying out this practice (haven't really weighed myself yet because I've just started sometime last week, but my body feels different than eating meat all the time). 


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My Latest Snowman Creation

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.

Magic in the Air #3

There's magic in the air when someone says something to you that touches you so deep inside, like a miraculous salve soothing the hidden wound in your heart that you didn't even know existed. And then all of a sudden you feel the warmth bursting forth from that spot, spreading out to your entire body and soon tears stream down your face even before you realize what's going on. 

There's magic in the air when a squirrel stares at you inquisitively with its cute little eyes and bushy little tail from less than two metres away, both of you wondering what the other is thinking about.


There's magic in the air when you plan to go somewhere and then your trip coincides with some big events that make you feel giddier with excitement, especially because you didn't plan your trip knowing about them, yet at the same time you just happened to find out about those events not long before your trip started. 

There's magic in the air when the night starts getting darker again and the street lights are on again after many nights of Midnight Sun. And the leaves start changing colours step by step as the air gets cooler. 

There's magic in the air when you are doing a monologue in front of someone, pretending to be yourself and that person (voicing the monologue in your character and that person's character) and not scare that person away. 

There's magic in the air when two people say the exact same thing at the exact same time and ended up laughing together. Bliss!

Cute Squirrel Strikes Back!

On May Day holiday, we went to visit MIL and I decided to bring my camera along just in case, because the last time we went there, I didn't have my camera and I saw a squirrel outside her yard. We got lucky again because indeed the squirrel came over ha ha ha ha ha...it's still partly in its winter coat (greyish), which will turn reddish in summer. 

Here are some photos that I took. It let me stand about a few metres away while it was busy munching food. As long as I stayed still in my spot near the door, it wouldn't run away he he he...

Now it's on alert mode...

Back to eating...

I just LOVE taking pics of it from different angles ha ha ha ha...Here are two pics of it on a swing. LOVE LOVE LOVE those cute paws!

Last photo...

And here's the video clip. I was going to publish this post last night, but the editing process for the video took SO long (had to stabilize it and make it brighter), so enjoy! If you hear a tingaling-aling sound in the video clip, it's the sound of particles of icy snow falling to the ground blown by the strong wind, making the squirrel alert and in the end it ran away.

Tail-Swishing Squirrel

I've promised a few friends that I'd try to take a video clip of the tail-swishing squirrel that I saw outside of MIL's place, so last Saturday I brought my digicam with me and voila!!! The squirrel came, though I think it was a different one compared to the one I saw a few weeks ago. Anyway, the squirrel came from across the street, then it climbed up to some trees and then came down to the yard and then jumped onto the bird feeder.

Here's the little fella climbing down some trees...

And some photos of him in action he he...my fave pose is the first one. :-D Click the photo to see a bigger view!

And here's the video clip. Enjoy!  

3BT: Random Days

1. I managed to deal with the additional shifts even while I was feeling under the weather. Crossing my fingers that I won't get sick!!! 

2. The flower-giving grandpa came by the store to do some grocery shopping when I had just finished my shift, so I quickly went to the cashier, bought some flowers, wrapped them with some paper, taped the receipt there, told my coworker that I would give them to a grandpa (so that she wouldn't charge him for the flowers while showing the receipt that I had taped there), and then went to find the grandpa and told him that they were for his wife. Felt GREAT to be able to return his favors!!! He's been giving me flowers on many occasions already!  :-D

3. Taking these pictures made me feel happy...

4. A grandma complimented my voice! Ha! It's never happened before in my entire life he he he he...so I'm gonna cherish the memory hi hi hi hi...:-D

5. Finally getting a few days off in a row. Phew!!! Now I can catch-up with blogging and blog-hopping. :-)

6. Finding a suitable gift for someone as well as another souvenir for Ken's little brother. And having the budget to buy both is something I'm THANKFUL for.


7. Joululimppu (a kind of Christmas bread) with delicious smoked salmon made by Kiveliön factory, eaten with a slice of cheese and chili sauce! YUMMY!!!!



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8. Knowing that MIL's heart is working well (no blockage). She went for a check-up in Rovaniemi hospital last week and the result was OK. No need for surgery or anything. Phew! 

9. Have to teach a coworker to do something and I've finally finished writing down my list so that I remember everything I have to teach her. :-D

10. Finally exercising again after not having done it due to my busy schedule and being slightly under the weather. Felt GREAT! :-D


11. Almost forgot: A coworker asked me if we had kids and I said no. Thankfully she didn't pry whether we wanted kids or not or anything else. She just accepted the answer. YEEEEEEESSSS!!! :-D

3BT: Random Days

1. After a long and crazy day at work, I came home at night in a famished state, but I was sweaty so I had to take a shower first, so I asked hubby to fry an egg for me so that it'd be ready right after my shower. :-D THANK YOU, hubby!!!

2. My bro asked me to give name suggestions for their second baby (along with the meanings). THANK YOU, bro, for involving me. I'm SO touched!!! Bless you!

3. A nice, long, restful sleep in the cabin where I could hear no noise at all where I saw a totally gorgeous sunset. Ahhhhh...what a wonderful world! 

4. Today has been a very sunny day at 22-24'C. I spent time sunbathing in the swing then spent a few hours mopping the floor and cleaning the windows wearing a tank top and shorts!!!! HA HAAAAA...

5. I got stared at by a very cute squirrel in MIL's garden LOL LOL!!!! 

6. My first batch of summer holiday has officially started. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!


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Another Christmas Overview

Our Christmas went peacefully as usual. This year because I didn't have to work, we managed to do some trips before enjoying our time together at MIL's place. On Christmas eve, we picked up MIL to go visit the graves. We lit some candles (we went to two different graveyards where they had MIL's parents' graves as well as FIL's parents' graves),

This is the graveyard near the old church:

 
It was -20'C that day and the sky had some pinkish colour at around 1 pm. Here are two views:

 

Then we went to visit FIL at the old people's home. He had just had lunch and he was given some coffee and joulutorttu in the kitchen.We gave him some Christmas gifts and then after we moved him to bed, he went to sleep right away, so we left and visited MIL's elder half-sister (who's also her very close friend). We gave her some chocolate and then we went back to MIL's place because BIL and SIL had promised to come at around 4 pm.We had the traditional Christmas food in Finland and then played some cards, but BIL and SIL had to leave earlier because they were going to spend Christmas with SIL's side of the family. 

MIL had asked me to buy some red wine, so I bought a bottle of French red wine, though I wasn't really sure if it was good or not because when I went to the store, there were SO many different types with different explanations, so I just chose one of them ha ha...R2 said that it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good, either ha ha ha...I only tasted a little 'coz I'm afraid of the rash happening again like what happened on my first Christmas in Finland.  

Anyway, after sauna we opened our gifts and R2 did get tricked!!! He thought I only gave him one gift, but I had hidden the second one in my bag. He opened the gift and thought that he only got a Donald Duck book. Only after that I gave him the second gift, which was his actual gift: a computer game he he he...He's been gaming it ever since we came back home! :-D

We stayed up late playing cards (not as late as the previous years, though! I guess we're getting older and we get tired more easily LOOOOOLLLL!!!) and then I had fun watching three squirrels chasing one another outside of MIL's apartment. They were SO cute!!!

Here's a pic of one of them. It was so dark outside already so it was hard to get a good pic. Thus I had to tamper with the pic and turned it into sepia mode:

And on Christmas day I saw a punatulkku (bullfinch) among the trees. It was SO vivid due to its red colour among the whiteness of snow. Here's a pic of it...I also had to tamper with the pic to make it brighter. Otherwise it'd look so dark.

Before Christmas I tried taking pics of natural snowflake forms on my bike, but it was SO hard. I just want to show you that when the temperature is colder and it snows, the snowflakes retain their original forms for a while when they land on non-warm spots (like this pic I took of my bike bag). It isn't the best pic (again the darkness didn't help me capture the snowflake form as well as I could), but I suppose this should do...

OK, enough for now. I'm now busy working again until New Year's eve, so not too much time to relax until then he he...

BBQ Time!

Finally today the sun was shining for a few hours, so we went out to try our bigger grill. Last year I bought a small baby grill, but it was tough to use to feed many people. It was good enough for the two of us, but when my Indo friends came over last summer and we had a BBQ party, it took a long time to cook the food ha ha ha ha ha...

While enjoying the food and the sun, I noticed a squirrel high up on a tree nearby. It was rather small, so at first I didn't even notice it, so I ran inside to grab my camera and managed to take a few pictures. However, soon enough it realized that I was taking pics, so it ran away. :-( I miss the brave squirrels in my in-laws' barn when they still lived in Kelujärvi 'coz they dared to be near us without running away he he...Oh well...

Here are some more old squirrel pics/videos taken in Kelujärvi: 

The Squirrel + The Reindeer

Video Clips: Squirrel and Reindeer

Squirrel Video Clips

First pic: the salad, waiting for the sausage to be done he he...

Second pic: The squirrel before it started noticing me and then ran away. Boooohoooo!!!!!

Anyway, it got cloudy after 3 pm but now it seems that it's getting sunny again. :-D I hope this week will be better than last week's rainy and cloudy weather, 'coz I have a busy week full of activities!!! :-D Have a blessed weekend, people!

3BT: Random Days

1. Enlightenment, enlightenment, enlightenment and the peace of mind as its result.

2. About a month ago or so, hubby said that I mumbled Finnish words in my sleep. :-D

3. Talking to my Mom via Skype. Always nice to chat with her.

4. Double family birthday party (MIL's and R2's) last Friday where we talked and played cards until 3.30 am.

5. VERY delicious cake that MIL bought and served us.

6. Riding bikes to and from MIL's place side by side with R2.

7. Giving back massage as one of R2's birthday gifts.

8. Reading funny jokes.

9. Walking down memory lane by listening to old songs in youtube and rereading old comics.

10. Enjoying the warmth of the sun while cleaning up the snow from the yard.

11. Seeing the squirrel in front of MIL's apartement on Saturday - this time it has gotten bigger and chubbier!!! :-D

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A Hard Day's Night

Yep, we saw this karaoke movie called A Hard Day's Night early this morning at around 2 am. At first we weren't sure whether we could make it or not 'coz it was SO late, but anyway...WE MADE IT!!!

It was fun singing along with all the songs in the movie - though too bad I only knew the whole tunes of two songs. I'd heard almost all of the songs, but didn't remember the whole tune of most of them, but it was FUN anyway. The whole crowd sang along with every song - those who didn't know the lyrics could just read them right above the screen. We even clapped our hands in some points - with gusto! HE HE HE HE...Btw, if you wanna know, the ticket is €7. Had never seen the movie itself, but it was funny he he he...

Just like every year, The Midnight Sun Film Festival has arrived in Sodankylä and there are many people from different countries coming here. We went for some drinks outside a tent at around 6 pm and just talk about many things. Here's the tent near which we had our drinks - the white tent on the left side of the photo (this photo is taken from near the big tent):


While talking there, we saw a rainbow...not too vivid, but still it was nice to see:


Then we went our separate ways at around 9 pm 'coz my friends wanted to go back to their places to get their bikes, so we set up to meet at my place before the movie started. It started getting a bit cold at that time 'coz it was cloudy, so I thought it might be best to just continue talking at my place before we watched the movie. One friend brought some wine and we had fun talking for hours.

Then we biked to the big tent where we had to queue. The show started later than we thought, so we had to queue for at least 20 minutes, but that was fine 'coz I was with my friends and we could chit-chat about so many topics he he...

Anyway, here's the big tent where we saw the movie. It could hold up to a few hundred people - about 500 or something if I'm not mistaken. Or was it 800? Hmmm...


This below photo was taken at around 1.20 am - notice that there's now a long queue already to get inside the big tent (the big tent is on the left side - not captured in this photo). And yeah, that is the white tent outside which we had our drinks earlier that day. They sold pancakes, coffee, tea, sandwiches, sodas, etc.


Another picture I managed to take after going to the toilet inside this old school. There are some auditoriums in the school where they showed different movies. The clock says it's 01.25 am.


I took this pic when I biked home - it was around 3.40 am already hi hi hi...and the temperature went down to 9'C only. THANK GOD we all went back home to wear warmer clothes. ;-D We hope we can do this again next year, but we'll see he he he...


OHHHHHHH almost forgot...we saw a BABY squirrel on the way...look at how cute it is! It was running around in front of a supermarket's parking lot he he...

Leaving Tomorrow

I still can't believe I'll be flying to Indo tomorrow already. It feels like a dream. I think partly I feel that way 'coz I'm flying alone this time and I'll leave dear hubby behind. Oh well...I've prepared some blog posts scheduled to be published during the time I'm away, so don't forget to come and visit me even when I'm away, OK? He he he...

I'll be back to Finland on November 28th, just in time to celebrate my birthday the day after he he he...

I don't have too much time now...just wanna share these two video clips with you...First one: the video clip I took about 2 weeks ago - my BIL was in the video, checking out the surface of the lake.



Another video clip of the squirrel he he he...



Okay, I wish you all a beautiful November filled with hope, joy, health, love, and laughter. I'll be missing you guys and girls A LOT and we'll see if I can visit your blogs while I'm in Indo (my bro has a laptop now, so I can use it - but I don't know how good the internet connection is over there he he...)

See ya when I see ya!!!

Full Weekend

Hi, people!

Can't believe in less than a week I'll fly to Indo!!! *gasp* Anyway, last weekend was quite overloaded for me, 'coz I went to that entrepreneur course on Friday afternoon (5 hours) and Saturday (6 hours). Right after I went back home on Saturday, we went to the cabin to spend the night there. WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

We had loads of fun in the cabin - laughing and being crazy hi hi hi...Didn't take too many nature pics 'coz it wasn't sunny weather. Here are some pics I took:

1st pic: The hole in the ice where we got some water - not to drink, just to go to the toilet or wash our hands with. It was so dark outside that we had to bring a big flashlight.


2nd pic: Inside the cabin.


3rd pic: Me so hungry me could eat R2's foot HA HA HA HA...Actually he thought the pose was gross hi hi...


4th pic: Yep, another squirrel pic. It just stood there like that for a few minutes. I'm uploading the video now and I'll show you later on.


Anyway, I have so many things to do still before I go to Indo. On Wed we'll go to Rovaniemi for one last shopping trip with my MIL. :-D Can't wait to do that. ;-D Now R2 and I can spend our last week together before I leave him for 4 straight weeks. I wonder how it'll be like 'coz we've never been apart for more than one day. Gonna be interesting he he...