The wannabe architect :o)

Tomorrow is December, it's snowing (or slushing to be exact LOL) outside, had no place to go today, so I had time to play. I had baked these gingerbread parts just before my oven busted and they were calling out to be built.

I haven't made a gingerbread house in six years. The last time I managed to get second degree burns (really nasty BIG blisters!) on four (or was it five?) of my fingers... How? I assemble the houses using melted sugar. Needless to say it is extremely hot. I dipped one roof part, went "Damn wrong edge" and turned it around and placed my fingers on the hot sugar. Yeah, great fun. The gingerbread went flying, and I headed to the sink cursing. Put me off making gingerbread houses for a while.

But, having learned my lesson I decided this was the year. Besides the girls were harassing me to make one. I wanted to make a lighthouse. I didn't have patterns but I'm known for doing stuff like this just making it up as I go.
After the hot sugar assembly, it looked like this:

Yes, a bit lopsided I admit... like I said I winged it ;o)
But now I got to start the fun bit!
And several sugar filled hours later, TA-DAA!

This particular lighthouse is habited by the Moomin family. Moomintrolls are Finnish storybook characters (the books are by Tove Jansson and have been translated to English as well. This one is my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374453039/qid=1133371320/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9892744-1261607?s=books&v=glance&n=283155 ) That's Moomintroll on the pier, with Moominmamma and Moominpappa by the lighthouse. So who is that hiding behind the Christmas tree? That is the Groke. She is so cold that ground freezes where ever she soundlessly moves . Maybe she thinks the lighthouse light will make her warm?

I heard from the insurance company today, they'll pay to have my oven fixed. About time too...

It arrived!

The long awaited box from Auntie Tawny! Good mail day :o)
I'm not kidding you when I say the girls have been asking for this box for the past 6 months... it took Uncle Mark a few months to find it under his desk LOL!

What was in it? I got some scrapping magazines and good books, and the girls were pampered silly with American Girl doll goodies.
This is Niina checking out all the fancy new clothes for her Angelina Ballerina doll, she also got a cute cute cute pram with a baby mouse. Can't believe I forgot to take a photo.

And Saara got Coconut the dog for her doll. She also got the funniest cat Halloween costume for the dog.

Why me? Or woe is me??

Before I start woeing I'll share some of my photo challenge pics that I didn't get up this weekend. As you can see we got snow, it was so pretty (I say was because as of this morning it has turned to slush...) .
I turned on the Christmas lights, took my camera out and tried some shots without a tripod. I'm really pleased at how they came out. I love this camera!
Last year I couldn't get decent shots of my lights at all. I'll be having so much fun this Christmas... just wait till I get my tree up!


Then, onto something a touch sillier, yet everyday. The biggest dairy in Finland is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. They asked several Finnish artists to dress up the milk cartons for the celebrations, the catch was it had to feature a cow.

These two are my personal favorites :o) I have to say, it makes picking milk at the grocery store more fun as you decide if you really want the 0% as the 1% has a funkier picture on it...

OK, so the woe part... MY OVEN BROKE! Sharyn, it must be contagious...did your late oven sneeze this way?? My oven has a fan that keeps the temp just right and at the same time cools the electronics. It satrted making this infernal noise the other week...then it died. Now it'll work for about 15 mintes before shutting down, the oven works OK, though...but I can't really use it as I might fry the electronics. So I had the repairman come over this morning ($112) to tell me that the fan ($390) is busted and that they have to order the part. Yeah...ka-ching...sigh.
This is the part where I am so grateful for our excellent insurance. I called them. Scanned in papers, filled out a form, emailed and now am waiting....impatiently. I want to know whether they'll pay to get it fixed (the oven is only 6 years old!!!) or if they'll pay for a new one. To my surprise they'll cover the guy's visit this morning whatever they decide. Cool. So I will have a working oven for just $147, that's what I have to cover... now the million dollar question of course is when. Because this is not a good time for me to be with out a oven!!!

And now my 4 year old is sick. The same damned cold I had last week. And let me tell you... this one creates gunk up the yazoo! I went through a pack of 100 double ply tissues just by myself! Keep your fingers crossed the other one doesn't catch this ok? They are performing dances to us at the school this friday...

What else, my to-do list isn't getting any shorter... oh no...longer by the day! I should be mailing out my cheaper rate packages to the US by this Thursday. Maaann.... Tawny dear.. still working on your calendar, hey only 6 more months to go :oP And the cute little something I made for my dear niece needs a clasp I can only get downtown... have a secret santa gift to finish...this of course is all stuff I should have done last week, but I was sick on the couch.

Enough of my moaning... instead I'll show you some beautiful photos from yesterday's walk. And I have to brag, I didn't touch up these photos at all! I am so pleased with the light on these.

£#&¤*§!!!

Day three of being sick.
The house looks like a bomb went off as all I've been able to do is to fill the dishwasher. Dirty laundry on the floor, the girls' rooms are horrid, I haven't aired the house (ick), the kitchen...sigh... I'm happy you can't see the crumbs in this photo!

This is where I've camped, the couch. With my nasal spray, tissues, phones and chocolate within reach. In fact I think I'll go crawl back there...

Hoping I'll be able to kick this thing soon.
Oh and Mika informed he won't be coming home until tomorrow. Great.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And I'll be hearing about for the rest of my life I'm sure.
Saturday started off nice enough. I got in 3 hours of quality mom shopping time before hitting another car while backing out of a parking space. In my defence, the sun glared right into my eyes, plus I was backing out from behind a big van... Luckily my speed matched that of a snail. The other car had absolutely no damage, mine...well it looked worse than it was. Most of it was just dirt, but judging from the look on my husband's face the car was totalled. He spent three hours (no I kid you not) washing and waxing that rear bumper. My eyes can see a faint scratch, his superman eyes see oh so much more. sigh.

Saturday was also the one day I forgot (gasp) to take a photo. I think it was a unconscious no evidence kind of choice.

On Sunday as Mika left for Germany the girls and I drove to a birthday party. My friends' boys turned 3 and 1. Aren't these two just adorable?

That's Eikka and Rami.
Eikka is the coolest little man I've ever met. Truly. I'm totally smitten by his 3 year old charm :o) Before we left I asked him when he would come over to visit. He looks at me and starts pondering: "Oh, I think tomorrow. Yes tomorrow. But first I am going to Grandmother's, so in the evening. Yes, the evening would be good." His mother next to me just rolls her eyes, like I said a cool guy.

This photo is from yesterday. Sitting next to the fireplace was the only thing helping my fever chills. Not much going on yesterday, if you don't count sneezing.

And today, well... that fireplace sounds good again. Still sick, even more so. So lovely (rolling eyes). My highlights today were that Legacy sent me back my piece published in the Dec/Jan issue (Tawny, you want to be on the look-out for that!!!) and my spanking new jammies (as seen in photo). Aren't they cute?
Off to nurse my head...

Blech.

Sick today.
I'll post my photo-a-day pics tomorrow along with my adventurous weekend stories. They involve shopping, being in the doghouse for scratching the rear bumper on the car, birthday parties and hubby flying to Germany.
Sigh.

Friday finally...

I can't believe I have survived this week without the car. I think I need a medal for that.
DH says it will be ready for me tomorrow morning as I intend to go do some serious xmas shopping with no kids in tow.

So Niina asked me to take a photo of her unicorns (or horned horses as she calls them), sure no problem. I start taking photos and she starts to bend her head to the side, really working it.. so I ask her: Honey why do you keep doing that? Cause it looks fun!
Hey, can't argue with that!

I'm going to be taking my usual weekend blogging break. Tomorrow is intense shopping and Sunday we have a b-day party to go to, and Mika leaves for Germany yet again. You all have a good weekend now!

I love these colors!

I've been crafting today. Every Christmas I give my dear friend some ornaments I have made. Over the past 10 years, I've pretty much decorated their tree LOL!
This year I decided on my favorite colors in honor of the last bitty scraps from last years xmas KI Memories papers. I think I'll need to make a few for myself too. These are just so yummy!

This is another project I started today (like I don't have enough to do...but at least this can be done while watching tv):

I saw this in a magazine yesterday and got out my white felt and started cutting snow flowers.... I have to cut 86 more though!

OK, so tell us already, huh? I hear you impatiently tapping your collective foot ;o)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire absolutely rocked! Voldemort was every bit as horrendously brilliant as I had imagined him. So were poor Ron's dress robes ROFL! And I'm starting to like Neville more... hmmm....Go see it for yourself! You'll enjoy it! I promise.

Why is it...

..that even when you have your strings of Christmas lights all nice and neat, the minute you set out to hang them they get tangled??! Aaaarrrggghhhhhh......

Today I went to this tupperware style party for kids' clothes. Really nice, good quality stuff...I could see Saara wearing the black, white, tan line. But... old Scrooge set in... 36 euros ($42) for a shirt! I don't think so. If you are curious, here's a link to their british pages http://http://www.lingonblabar.co.uk/ .

And dear DH is not a happy camper today... last night he realized that the last time the car was serviced they had forgotten to turn certain clips shut so that rain and washing water had gotten INSIDE the car. He got at least 3 liters (almost a gallon) of water from under the passenger side front and back seats. To put it shortly it was soaked. So he started drying it last night at 9pm (after he had been to wash it, adding insult to injury there) and he didn't crawl into bed until 3.30am. The car is still drying out, if tomorrow is dry I might get to actually use it. But you better believe those guys at the service place will hear about this one!!!

Saara and I are going to a viewing of the new Harry Potter movie tonight!!! Should be good. I'm most looking forward to seeing Ralph Fiennes as Voldem.... He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named. I enjoy the who's who of top british actors even in the smaller parts. And who knows, maybe I'll learn a few cool spells :o)

So, onto today's photo. My mom picked up this cute squirrel hat at a fleamarket. It is Niina's favorite hat.

A little girl dreaming...

Niina, almost 5, was on the My Little Pony site doing a little coloring when she found a link to a list over 200 Pony toys and gizmos. She kept saying: "MOOOOMMMMMMMMMM LOOK AT THIS! I want that, it's sooooo pretty!"

So I looked, plastic charm bracelets $4.29, scribble giggle & stamp set $12.99, bicycle accessory funpack $14.99, cello treat sacks $1.89, Fluttershy pony $6.99....sigh... I wish I could just teleport myself to a Target!!!
They sell the ponies here, stickers and coloring books but that's it. None of the *fun* stuff. Just that stamp set would make her year, LOL. So Auntie Tawny...take note...her birthday is in January ;o)

I thought it was stormy yesterday... nope. The storm didn't hit us until today. And no car today either (what makes men think us mom's don't have plans?), the gusts were so strong that Niina nearly was blown away when we walked home from preschool, she had a really scared look on her face. In between giggles.
Lets put it this way: I had an umbrella with me, I got home and my head was dry...
Had to put on my jammies since my jeans are soaked. I'll be damned if I step out the door still today!

darn it!

So this morning as I typed the weekend's happenings, I had plans to go hang those Christmas lights outside...well IT'S RAINING! Sideways, I might add!
It started raining just when I headed out the door to pick up Niina from preschool, yes...on foot. Mika took the car today. I really thought I was going to get to the preschool Mary Poppins style! Storms winds today, those gusts are horrid. And we had to walk to the store too, no food in the house. So, now Niina is watching a video and this

is in the oven. The recipe for this open face pie will be in the 2Peas PUB recipe book ;o)

I might as well do computer stuff today. Print out address labels and go pretty up my Sis's (is that a word?? LOL) blog.
Stay warm!

I was tagged :o)

So now you'll learn a few more things about me thanks to Courtney!

2 - names you go by:
Suski and MOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!

2 - parts of your heritage:
Finnish and..ummm... Finnish!

2 - things that scare you:
outliving any of my children (echoing Courtney on that one!), roller coasters

2 - of your everday essentials:
Lip balm and computer

2 - of your favorite bands or musical artists:
Right now Robbie Williams and Eros Ramazotti, but that changes weekly LOL!

2 - favorite songs:
Tripping- Robbie Williams
Precious- Depeche Mode (feeling nostalgic here...)

2 - things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
ability to compromise
Laughter

2 - physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
Nice..ummm...rear...
eyes

2 - of your favorite hobbies:
scrapbooking and knitting

2 - things you want really badly:
tolerance for everyone on this planet
a nice zoom lens

2 - places you want to go on vacation:
Firenze! That is Florence, Italy
New Zealand

2 - things you want to do before you die:
learn to use my camera really well
spoil my grandkids rotten

2 - ways that you are stereotypically a chick:
I always have gum in my purse
Sparkly things make me happy (not talking exclusively about jewelry)

2 - things you are thinking about now:
why did it have to rain today
oh, I kinda like this James Blunt song too...

2 - stores you shop at:
Prisma
Jumbo mall (like those mean a thing to you all LOL)
Wish I could say Target...sigh...

2 - people I would like to see take this quiz:
Torm and Tia :o)

I think there was a weekend?

It went by too fast.
Now I'm yawning here on a Monday morning trying to remember why it went by so fast...

On Saturday I tackled the one task of this dark season I dislike. Checking Christmas lights... You plug it in and realize you have at least 10 section of 10 lights dark. So you pull out tiny bulbs and test them all... my poor finger tips. But they are all now ready to be put outside, which I think I'll do today since it shouldn't be raining and it is warm wnough not to freeze my fingers completely.
I did snap my daily photo of the lights...two in fact..just to show you how much fun it is messing with the focus!

Sunday was Father's Day here. The girls slept over at my Mom's next door and let Daddy sleep in until 10am. Then they eagerly came tip toeing to wake him up.

By the time I took this photo the bigger one was sulking since she didn't have a personal gift for Daddy...sigh. We went and visited my in-laws and that pretty much took up the rest of the day. I was knitting a cute little party purse as a Christmas present, I was surprised at how fast it came togethere! I knitted all the parts yesterday and now I just need to put it together. I hope the girl receiving it likes it. And no, not one of mine ;o)

*bling bling*

I thought it was time to sparkle today :o)

This is the dining room chandelier that I inherited from my grandma. It has always hung in this room. I love it. It's a pain to clean, but still I love it.

Houston, we have lift off!

Her ears are pierced!!!!!

Lazy Thursday

It's another dark day here, I've had the lights on all day!
And what am I doing?
This:

Having fun :o)

Now onto results of yesterday's text messaging.
Olivia got herself a date.
Saara however didn't have luck. The 1st one she asked already had a date and the 2nd said no :o( He didn't say if he already had a date. Saara will still try one more possibility today. Keep your fingers crossed, ok? She's so sensitive...

Modern times

This is Saara and her friend Olivia, just moments ago, text messaging.
Some background info is needed here-
On Dec 2nd the mayor of the city of Helsinki holds an Independence Day (ours is Dec 6th) Ball for all the 4th graders of Helsinki. They have been practicing dances at school for weeks now, they'll get juice served in champagne glasses and finger foods at the ball. And they get to dance to a popular Finnish pop personality (we don't know who it will be this year).
This is a BIG DEAL.
We have already bought a new dress (black velvet, very cute!), new jewelry, still need shoes and there is the entire hair issue still to resolve.

And in the photo above, the girls are asking a couple boys to the dance. Ooohhh... the anticipation...
Although asking via a text message makes it all too easy. No nervous stuttering or wondering when is the ideal moment when nobody can see you do it.
I'll fill you in when I know more.

-sock clips-
Now about those handy clips I talked about yesterday. They are a Finnish invention and I don't know if they are sold abroad at all. I had my conversion a bit off yesterday, I meant to say 5 euros, not dollars. A pack of 15 costs about 5,50 euros, and that would be roughly$6.50. Postage would most likely be $3.80. Color combos are red, blue & yellow and white, black & green.
If you are interested let me know! You can email me at susanna.tunturi@dlc.fi :o)

The Dark Horror Show

LOL! That's what I call this evil load filled with underwear and socks... it takes forever to hang. Yes, hang. I don't own a dryer, so I air-dry year round. This time of year I inevitably hang my laundry to dry in the sauna washroom. A year ago I found these handy sock clips at the store. Some clever Finnish woman got sick of losing socks in the wash...and invented these. I clip the socks together before tossing them in the washing machine and voilá no more lost socks! And it is a whole heck of a lot faster to hang those clips up than 40 individual socks! Imagine that, peace of mind for about $5 . Who knew?

Catching up

Weekends are blog-free time for me. So today I have three photos to share :o)

Meet Robin and Saara, age 10. They were born two months apart in the fall of 1995. Robin is the son of our old neighbors, the kids have remained friends through the years. You should have seen these two when they saw each other for the first time after we moved to the US. We had been gone for 6 months, they ran to give each other a big hug! They just went nuts, it was so fun to watch as they were only 18 months at the time.

I tried to get Saara to give Robin a birthday hug... no go.
I tried to get them to at least lean their heads together for this shot... no go.
I was lucky to get them this close. Cooties, you know :oP
I really want to make a page of them in 1995 and today. With or without co-operation!

OK, Here's DH Mika. In his very hip new shirt. I had seen it earlier and thought it would be great on him. It is. The colors are a bit off, that's hot pink, red and violet stripes. I think I'll hae him wear this for Christmas, it matches some papers I have ROFL!
I'm really having to battle with lighting on these photos...damned if I'll turn on the flash! But it is the darkest time of year and it keeps getting darker until Christmas when day starts being longer than night again. But it'll be March until I have decent natural light again, sigh. I should add cheap portable lighting to my shopping list, huh?

See? I'm not kidding you, I took this photo at 1pm today from inside the window. The clouds hang low, it's grey, it's drizzling, THERE IS NO LIGHT! Just gloom. It's supposed to be like this for the entire week... this is why I never get any family shots for our Christmas cards LOL... I should take them in July...

So on to positive things. I have scrapped 6 double page LO's, 1 one pager and 6 altered postcards last week! YEAH! My mojo is back in town!
Now if my mojo would just get her butt to the basement to hang laundry... no? I better go do that then.

And Tawny dear, now that you have done all your American Girl shopping (and being my alarm clock this morning) would you please take a photo of that shawl I made for you? Thank you!

My Friday fiend..or friend...

Meet Mr. Vacuum, 10 meters/32 feet of hose I get out every Friday and plug to the wall. Oh yes, dustbunnies beware! This is one of my favorite features in our house, the in-built vacuum cleaner. And yes, it is always on a Friday.

{Eye candy}

My photo for today.

I couldn't resist buying these the last time I was at IKEA. Is it possible to resist something that is just so happy, filled with bright colors, sparkly and says 48x Christmas (in Swedish btw) ???
I think not.
But in a sense this is a major faux pas for me... the ornaments that hang on my tree are either glass or handmade. The older I get the more rebellious I am, so to hell with my rules! I made them up, I can chuck them out the window too!
I'm just going to have a happy tree this year. :o)

Lets set something straight...

My house is not as organized as some of you think...
I'm sharing some shots from my upstairs this morning, just to prove that point to you.

Crime scene #1
Niina's room


Notice unmade bed, dirty clothes on the floor, toys everywhere and a general desperate mess.

Crime scene #2
Saara's room, sigh.


Desk...I think there's a desk under all that junk... again unmade bed, dirty clothes hanging on her chair, stuff on the floor and since she hasn't bothered to make her bed all her stuffed toys are in a ugly pile on her chair.

And then...well I made my bed, but can't seem to move those piles of clean clothes, LOL!

So yes, I am just a normal woman, I have dustbunnies lurking in the corners and a pile of clothes that needs to be ironed.
But that'll have to wait, my mojo is in town...gotta scrap while it's here!

Coincidence?

Or conspiracy, LOL...
This ad came in the mail today. Yes, my votives.

Like I said I buy one new color a year, they have two price groups and for some reason I fall in love with the more expensive ones, go figure. They come in 20 colors, so I've got my work cut out for me.
I wanted also to show you a fun detail on two of these, the glass changes color depending on if it's natural light or lightbulb/flame. Aren't these cool?

The rose/olive is my latest arrival. I bought it today.
Yes, I caved in.

So, onto the daily photo challenge :o)

This time of year, I start wandering into my favorite yarn store. I never ever walk out empty handed. My projects are small, scarves, shawls, socks, gloves and hats. I already knitted that fuzzy green scarf for me and I'm crocheting the white mohair one as a Christmas gift. I work on these while I watch tv at night. I've apparently inherited this trait from my great-grandma, never being able to have idle hands.
I wish I had taken a photo of the shawl I made for my sister a couple years back... I really liked that one.

November ambience

I'm sure you remember me stocking up on tea lights? This is where they go. In clear, amber, red, grey and purple. I think the next one should be lime... I buy a new one every year.

I had a busy weekend at Saara's school, her class held a Fall Bazaar as a fundraiser for camp school next May. I ran the cafeteria/cake stand, and was literally run off my feet. My feet and shoulders ached and it's taken me serious doses of ibuprofein and 2 hours of yoga to get back into feeling close to myself again. I was getting tension headaches...I never get headaches. Hate them! But we did raise 2200 euros (almost $2400). We are halfway to the mark.

Mika left for Germany today, he'll be back late Friday night. He'll be traveling to Germany three times this month. I'm quite OK with that... I get to reclaim my desk for scrapping purposes and not hide my chocolate :oP