Gorgeous Weekend with Family

Last weekend was gorgeous weather. It was around 25-26'C during the day, though on Sunday there was strong wind, but it was still HOT HOT HOT. Had BBQ party at BIL's place on Saturday and we all laughed so much while the brothers and one of their cousins reminisced of the "naughty" things they did in the past - some of which MIL had had no idea about LOL!!! 

Then on Sunday we went to the woods and had fun again. I'm amazed at the amount of blueberries growing in the woods as well as the amount of blackcurrants and redcurrants growing in MIL's garden in Kelujärvi. Here are some redcurrant pics I took in Kelujärvi. 

This is the forest area, the same place where we went miniskiing some years ago. The difference between winter and summer scene is just amazing, don't you think? (click on the link to compare)

Took this pic as I was lying on the grass (well, I used a big piece of paper as a cover 'coz the grass was a bit damp) and listening to the songs in my mobile phone while watching the clouds roll by (enjoying the cool breeze in the shade). :-D Pure bliss!!!

Can you see the "face" in this pic below? 

Pain Triggers

*cross-posted with my other blog - edited for this blog*

A wise blogger friend of mine gently reminded me that everybody has pain triggers while we were talking about some things via email. This topic brought me back to the conversation I once had with my ex-Junior High School classmate. We got to know each other better over time and then one day, long after we first met she confided to me that she used to be envious of the fact that I had my own bedroom. Mind you, I used to sleep in a bunk bed with my brother for years until I finally moved to a makeshift room at the other side of the house (don't remember when I moved there - must've been when I was around 15 or so). Mom just put on a rail of curtains to separate it with the rest of the room. After my grandma died, I moved to her bedroom and that was when I got my own room that had an actual door (it was when I was in High School - when I was around 17).

Anyway, back to the story...I was totally surprised when I heard her say that. I mean, I never boasted about the fact that I got my own bedroom and I never really felt that it was anything too special, but for her at that time it must've been something pretty important and something she could only daydream about (FYI she had to share a room with a cousin for years). After all, it IS nice to be able to have your own space and be able to have your own privacy. And her words reminded me to be thankful about having my own bedroom and not to take it for granted.

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So, even though sometimes we don't say anything that may spark someone else's pain trigger, somebody else may feel the pain just because it's something out of reach that they've daydreamed about. Sometimes when other people state their thankfulness over something, it may also spark our pain triggers when the thing that they're thankful for is something that we don't have (either yet or can't have).

I think it's just normal to feel that way, but when I try to think of this in a HUGE scale for every human being I meet online or offline, it feels like I start seeing landmines everywhere. There's NO WAY you'll be able to escape from inadvertently stepping on those landmines in your daily life, especially nowadays when it's easier to communicate with one another through the internet (read: share photos etc.) and there's no way you can avoid having your landmines stepped on, either. The only thing I want to do is recognize that place of pain and then embrace it, soothe it, love it, hug it until I feel better.

To be honest, the first time we realized we were IFers, I think I must've thought IF was a kind of insolent uninvited stranger barging into our life (additional side note: actually maybe at first I felt the stranger was bringing a curse or a punishment for us). After a while, I started to think of it as my enemy. An enemy who tried to ransack my relationships with other people as well as hubby and then mockingly laughed at our wrecked state. I battled it with all my might, trying my best not to lose (my sanity, control over my emotions, etc.). But alas, it was WAY too strong for me. I wept buckets, bled inside, and cursed it, but after a while I surrendered and that was when I started healing. And I think after I started recognizing it as a kind of guru instead of an enemy, I've been walking further along this path of healing even more as time goes by (it's like I'm experiencing a different shift in this path of healing).

Anyway, let me end this post with some quotes.

Lord, help us to accept the pains and conflicts that come to us each day as opportunities to grow as people and become more like you.

- Mother Teresa, A Gift for God

Adversity introduces one to oneself. - Unknown

"I walked a mile with Pleasure
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me."

- Robert Browning Hamilton

Quotes taken from here and here

3BT: Random Days

1. Finding the right kind of steaming pans at a lovely price, so I bought them right away HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

2. Big discounts in a shop. Found a sweater that I'd been searching for in a long time but hadn't found yet until today. One of R2's winter sweater had holes already but the one I ordered online was more suitable for late spring/early autumn. R2 doesn't want a sweater with a hoodie, but he doesn't want one that looks like a grandpa's sweater, either ha ha...

3. When we got our roof renovation bill, we found out that we got a little reduction due to a certain reason. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY for discounts! 

4. Watching this funny video clip. I think Star Wars fans must enjoy this one! :-D


5. Reading about random acts of kindness around the world (which made me cry) restored my faith in mankind.

6. Doing gardening work together with hubby on a hot summery day (26'C). :-D

7. After #6, I took a walk to the riverbank and took these pics along the way...

The river is Kitinen river, whereas the squirrel pic was taken on someone else's yard 'coz I happened to see it run to that yard when I was walking back home. 

Summer Is Back!

Yep, it's been great weather for the past few days again, going up as high as 25-27'C under the sun during the day, but thankfully it gets cooler during the night ha ha ha...it can go down to around 17'C during the night, but due to the colder weather weeks ago that lasted for a while, I can see some autumn colours already. COOL!!! Usually here in Lapland autumn only lasts for a few weeks and when there are strong gusts of wind, soon enough the leaves will have fallen to the ground already, so I don't get too many chances to take pics of autumn colours. 

Anyway, due to a friend's request, I made a daisy wreath yesterday when we spent time with MIL in Kelujärvi. They grew wild there, so I could pick them up to my heart's content. It was actually my first time making a wreath on my own and in the beginning I had a bit of a hard time forming the "round crown shape". It was SO hot that the daisies wilted not long after R2 took this pic. 

Here are some autumn colour pics. Today I went for a walk near the river 'coz I just felt like it he he...gotta enjoy the hot days here as best as I can 'coz we have a short summer up here. Just look at how blue the sky was! :-D

Boy, time flies so fast. Next month I'm gonna have another nephew. Because we're planning to go to Indo next year, I'm gonna start buying gifts from now - whenever there are good deals or summer sales, it's always a good time to start buying them ha ha ha ha...

Language Trouble: Body Language

The other day there were plenty of tourists coming to our store. Not all of them speak decent English, so sometimes I had to resort to using body language. Here are two incidents that I consider pretty memorable he he...

A couple of middle-aged tourists came to the cashier, paid for their stuff, then the woman asked me in broken English, "Excuse me, can I ask you something?"

I said, "Sure, go ahead."

She said, "Do you have ummm...cheese? But not regular cheese."

At that point the man was making gestures, so I turned to look at him. He was making two horns by putting up two forefingers on both sides of his head. I was trying hard to understand, but couldn't really think of anything just yet. I was wondering if they were looking for some cheese spread, but then she picked up a packet of cheese spread and then asked again, "Not this kind. But..."

Then the guy showed the same gesture, but this time he let out some bleating sound (like a lamb). 


Then it hit me..."Oh, you're looking for goat cheese!!!" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...What a revelation!!!

The second incident that day happened when an old lady with almost on English ability came to the cashier. She paid for her stuff, then asked in her native language "bla bla bla bla bla bla...clock clock."

At first I thought she wanted to know the time, so I showed her my wristwatch, but she shook her head and continued to ramble in her native language "bla bla bla bla bla..."

I was silent for a few seconds, then it hit me...maybe she wanted to know what time the store closed that day, so I put up six fingers to show her (because on Saturdays we're closed at 6 pm). Satisfied with what I showed her, she said, "Ahhhhh bla bla bla bla bla..." Then she said thank you in her native language and left. 

Phew!!! Sure would be much easier if I could speak many different kinds of languages, but sometimes you've just gotta rely on body language and guesswork HA HA HA HA HA HA HA... 
 

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Busy Week

Been busy this week - fighting off the symptoms of a cold (and possibly sinusitis) as well as working and trying to rest enough and then going to the cabin is enough to make me silent online. So far I've managed to fight off the symptoms by drinking lots of warm tea with fresh lemon as well as cleaning my nose with a Neti Pot (it's called "sarvikuono" - meaning rhinoceros - in Finnish).

I took my camera with us to the cabin, but unfortunately I must've done something wrong when recharging the battery 'coz it was empty when I took it out. Dohhhhh!!!! It was such a shame 'coz we saw lots of birds there including some ducks walking on the side of an empty street, a hare, and there were lots of lovely raindrops on leaves after the rain this morning. Oh well...next time then! I took some pics using my mobile phone camera, but they don't come out as well. Still it was a lovely and relaxing trip. MIL stayed in the old house as well and she made some pancakes. We ate them with fresh strawberries, fresh cloudberries, and some cream. Yummy!!!

There're already autumn colours showing here and there. It's such a weird summer. I think the leaves have started changing colours already 'coz about two weeks ago the temperature dropped down to 2'C during the morning (at least that's what a local wrote in her FB wall post). Although the day temperature can still get up to 10-17'C, but the night temperature can be colder than that. I've just checked the weather prediction site and it seems that it can go up to 22'C on Wed and Thu. We shall see. Yesterday it was only about 13-14'C during the day but today it is a few degrees warmer.

Here are some pics I took with my mobile phone:

3BT: Random Days

1. Having to wear a uniform to work (the top and jacket provided by work) and not having to wonder about what to wear. Only need to invest on dark-coloured pants (no need to wear any skirt 'coz it's just not practical for my kind of work - a treat for a tomboy like me!).

2. Hubby's "sunbathing" sleeping pose. Sometimes I go to bed later than he does and then I get to see him lie on his back with both hands under his head. SO CUTE!!!!

3. Scratching hubby's head (giving him a sort of gentle head massage) and hearing him "purr" in delight ha ha ha...


4. Dealing with a past "ghost" once and for all and facing it face forward without shoving it to the back of my mind anymore.

5. Realizing even more now how perfect the timing of FIL's passing, because it coincided with BIL's and my holiday, so I could spend more time with MIL without any distraction during the first week, which was probably the toughest for her.

6. My boss and coworkers who don't treat me differently because I'm a foreigner. I'm VERY THANKFUL for this.

7. My period is finally here, so I can say goodbye to my mellow mood earlier due to PMS HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

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8. Watching these talented kids and thinking how much time they must've spent practicing. I salute them and wish them a beautiful future.

Two Birds and A Butterfly

Last Sunday was a gorgeous day. It went up to around 26'C with a cool breeze. We did some yard work and I cleared up some space in the outer shed so that we'd have more space to put some stuff inside. Then I spotted two birds and a butterfly, so I ran inside to get my camera and managed to take these shots:

Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the bird ha ha ha ha...when I find out, I'll let you know. 

Updated: OK, so these birds are called "White Wagtail" or "Västäräkki" in Finnish. They do wag their tails up and down in a funny way LOL!

I wanted to take more pics of this gorgeous butterfly, but it flew away before I could take another shot. The second shot I took was a failure 'coz I was a millisecond too late in pressing the button LOL!!! But at least this photo is rather clear in showing the colours of the wings, no?

If you wonder why the birds looked as though they were up on the roof, but then you could see grass right beside them, that was 'coz the roof was on our grass HA HA HA HA HA...We're almost done with our roof renovation. The only things needed to be done can only be done later on 'coz the guy who does those things is on a holiday. Well, at least we have a new roof already and we hope it'll withstand the thick layers of snow for a LOOOONNNGGG time. 

Now the only thing we need to wait (other than the guy to finish up the renovation) is the bill HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Bye bye savings!!! At least the money's put too good use 'coz having a good roof is important.

The Case of The Missing Tupperware Cap

The other day in the evening I was preparing my lunch boxes for work because I had an early shift the next day, so it was more practical for me to do it the night before so that in the morning I only had to grab them with me to work. I took down two "Tupperware" boxes from the cabinet along with two caps. One box was white with a white cap, whereas the other one was white with a dark blue (navy blue) cap. I started preparing my snack first (usually I sliced up some bananas and mixed them with yoghurt) and then I was confused when I couldn't find the dark blue cap. Where had I put it?

I started getting frustrated after some time. I even looked at the bathroom ('coz I went there before preparing my food) and everywhere else in the kitchen. I knew I had taken out the cap from one of the cabinets, but I had forgotten where I left it. I started groaning in panic and hubby then got out of his chair and asked me what it was all about, so he helped me search.

And in just under a minute, he found it. And at the same time I laughed like crazy 'coz it was just HILARIOUS!!!! It was close to me, yet I missed it altogether. Where was the culprit, you asked?

It was lying on top of one of the round plates of the stove. You see, our stove is like this pic below and apparently I just happened to leave it there and because it was getting dark outside and I didn't put on any light, my eyes missed the "optical illusion". Dark on dark. My goodness!!!

Photo taken from here

Anyway, all's well that ended well and we had a good laugh over it LOL LOL!!!

Sense of Humour

What makes a marriage last? I don't know. After all, I've only been married for only almost 7 years. I've seen some couples grow apart in their later years. I've also seen couples that stay together no matter what despite the storms within and outside their marriage. I've also seen couples that go their separate ways before their fifth wedding anniversaries.

What I'm sure about is that sense of humour has had a great deal of importance in our marriage. We love teasing each other and we actually kinda grow each other's crazy/wacky sides, so it's "easy" to have fun together. I must say, though, I'm really thankful for hubby's easy-going and calm nature. He's not easily disturbed or panicked or angered and that's been one of the saving graces of our marriage. He doesn't talk that much, but that also means that he doesn't say hurtful words to me and he never reminded me of my mistakes or say bad words to me. I'm THANKFUL that he's never laid a hand on me. I cherish his gentleness and his own calm self. He's not perfect, but time and time again I'm reminded of how "easy" it is to live with him 'coz he brings out the best in me. And that makes me love him all the more as time goes by.

Honey, THANK YOU for being you, for being there, for sticking with me, for loving me, for being patient with me, for making me laugh so much, for laughing at my jokes, for every single day that we spend together...may the Lord keep us hand-in-hand and heart-to-heart for the rest of our lives...