Awwwwww...

That same 5 year old scrapped today.

She totally melted her daddy's heart with these.

Mine too.

Impressive

I can't believe my 5 year old is teaching me chess.
That kid amazes me.

Look at that face

She looks pretty wild today.
But she's also very excited over her new pink helmet.
She's a trooper (more like a Duudson, but that won't make much sense to non Finns).

And look what I got today.

Out with the old

and in with the new.

Well, not quite yet, I still need new lenses for these. I got them 50% off, yay!
They are different, but fun.
The rest of the family was there to choose.
So they can't complain.
*grin*

Thrilling suspense

Today I'm grateful for
-bike helmets
-gravel paths

We were at the park today. Niina had her friends Ella and Vilma there also.
Good times.
Kids running happily, us moms chatting away.

When leaving we hopped on our bikes. Saara and Vilma sped away at super speed and Niina was left behind shouting "Waaaaaaaaiiiiiiiit!"
She's been cycling without training wheels for only two weeks so she is still quite wobble-wobble-wobbly.
Suddenly she decides to speed up too.
Downhill.
I just mentioned to Tuija (Vilmas' mom) that she has never gone that fast and was opening my mouth to tell her to slow down when
SMACK!
Right on her face.

You know how you see accidents in slow motion?
Ouch.
To give you an idea, she sat up crying and spat sand from her mouth...
Scrapes on her legs, on both arms up to her elbows, on her nose and a huge goose-egg of a bump on her forehead.
There was pieces of styrofoam from her helmet on the ground.

Thank goodness we hadn't reached the asphalt yet.
She would have been spitting teeth instead of sand.

Also grateful that it was me there instead of Mika.
While I can remain calm and levelheaded, he would have been calling 112 (our 911).

I found out about my missing panic button 8 years ago when Saara and I were spending the summer here (we still lived in Michigan). This same house before renovations.
We had a big summer storm. I was in the kitchen when lighting hit the antenna. If you've never been in a house hit by lightning I can tell you it sounds pretty much like the whole house is falling down on you.
In other words: very LOUD.
And there's a strong smell of sulphur.
A very strong smell of sulphur.

And one wide eyed terrifired screaming her lungs out clinging to mom 2 yr old.

I grabbed the kid and while trying to calm her down walked from room to room seeing if the place was on fire.
That made me see I don't panic.
Now that I like.
(oh, every phone, fax machine and tv that was plugged in was fried)


OK, moving on..
I'm a bit tired today.
I watched a documentary about the life of Alfred Hitchcock last night, it didn't end until past 1am.
There are several films of his I like.
Vertigo.
The Trouble With Harry.

But my favorite by far is
The Rear Window.
You just can't go wrong with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly and a brilliant plot.

What's your favorite Hitchcock flick?

Dry, oh so dry

This has been the dryest summer in 45 years in Helsinki.
If rain doesn't come soon, and in abundance, 100's of trees will die in the parks during next winter.
You can only imagine what the park lawns look like.

We've been watering our yard about three times a week. I don't want to see our next water bill.
eeeeekkk.
Let me rephrase that:
EEEEEEEEKKKKkkkk!

I had these grand plans to move perennials but haven't been able to do that in the past 6 weeks.
I really wouldn't mind a few rainy days.

The other day when I mentioned I had to get offline because of the storm coming... I closed windows as I heard the rumble and saw lightnings. It was coming my way big time.
Until it stopped.
Just a few kilometers short.
And then changed direction and moved pass.
Darn.

So what is a girl to do when there's no gardening but standing out there with a hose?
When the girls amazingly are entertaining each other without any casualties?
When vacationing DH grabs the motorsaw and heads to make firewood?

She scraps.
I love seeing that pile of pages on my desk getting bigger.
And I will share, eventually.
Most pages still lack journaling, ha.
But I did post this yesterday: for Tia.

And I've made baby albums for sale. You see the main idea in these pics.
Girl and boy albums (using the basic Grey Oh Baby papers), three pages for important 'new baby' info with a page following for each month of the first year.



Both covers, the pages are from the boy album.

Anyone remember those paintings I made?
They are up on the wall now.


My bro already commisioned another.
(and a little birdie has told me that he has indeed asked Petra's father for the hand of his daughter!!! I can't wait to hear an official engagement announcement and take some photos of the two! I'm here happy dancin'! So happy he snagged Petra, we all just love her.)

Oh and someone asked where I do my scrap shopping?
Follow this link to A Million Little Things and have Jill fill your scrapping needs. There's loads of new American Craft, Sceninc Route and Fancy Pants, just arrived.
Some serious eye candy there....

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

...walls really, and the floor and the ceiling...

We were at Heureka, the local science center yesterday.
They had a couple interesting exhibits: Mirrors in Mind and Me Games.

We played some fun games and then learned all sorts of cool stuff with mirrors.

Could someone please point us in the right direction?
heheheee...

We also tested out the wind generator outside in the Galilei park.


I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy............!

Now this was cool.
You know those little round stickers they give you as a ticket?
There's a wall outside you can add yours to and make art.

Very Pisarro.
Google the name...

Today we were at the park.
I was there with some printed photography lessons.
I have to figure out this shutter speed business.

I did learn to take a panning shot though:

Girls, would you zoom past me, just back and forth for a while?
Cool technique.

Storm front approaching...better go turn this machine off!

Yessss...!

I woke up to rain!
It has been super dry here.
I'm not even going to complain about the cooler weather today.
Because we are getting rain!

I got my mini-album back from CK (Creating Keepsakes). It'll be in an new idea book coming out soon.
I'll let you know when it's out.
Good to have it home though, this particular album means a lot to me.
Hated to send it out of my sight.

To top off my week, I got a request from Paper Trends for a Christmas organizer I did for the 2004 season.
Funny thing is I've never even seen an issue of this magazine.

Rainy day... think I'll do some scrapping today.
They have some cool challenges going on in The Pub today for us poor folk not going to CHA. I spent some time this morning looking at the pictures Jill uploaded to the AMLT gallery. It looks like Autumn Leaves will be getting my money...those stamps by Tia, Rhonna and Katie are da bomb!

Bwaaahahahaaaa....

OK.
This is too funny.

For you this looks like a very elegant ad for a bathroom suite.
If you are a Finn, you are rolling on the floor laughing.

Sometimes I wish designers would look up what the words mean in other languages.
Although it makes for some silly moments.

I mean the other suite/faucet names in this brochure for Kohler are alright: Escale, Symbol, Provinity and Forté.

So...
Would you buy this beautiful faucet called Kamala?
Kamala meaning..


..awful...
..horrid...
..terrible..

This ad made my day.

spam comments

I've started getting a few spam comments so I turned on the word verification for comments.
It means you'll have to type in the odd letter sequence you see in the box before sending your comment through.

It's just a few more letters...you can manage right? :o)

Holy cheese Batman!

I could only eat half of this pizza.
It was a Quattro Formaggio (four cheese) and I hadn't thought it would be quite this cheesy.
Very filling.
And so very good.

My mom took Saara to Tallinn, Estonia for the day yesterday.
So we thought the three of us should go some place fun.
We decided on a 90 minute drive to the southern-most tip of Finland to the city of Hanko.
A quiet town that bursts alive in the summer.
We ate at a place called Pirate Restaurant at the eastern harbor marina.

The marina holds many chilhood summer memories for me as we stopped there nearly every summer while sailing. The smell of the salt, the clicking of the masts... love it there.

That's us on the pier.


This is quite possibly my fave shot of the day.
The sky is so beautiful.

A lovely day.

We then walked the 'beach boulevard' to get some much needed ice cream to eat at the beach.


They have some very beautiful old, turn of the previous century old, villas here. Most of them operate as summer hotels.

I'm partial to this one.
Villa d'Angleterre.
It's huge.
Filled with big windows, balconies here and there and a gorgeous view of the sea.
My dream summer house.


And for those of you wondering if I edit my pics much..
This is a good example.
I love Photoshop.
*grin*

(and this is the moment I thought I had put my lens cap in my purse, but had dropped it. Luckily it was half sticking out of the sand an hour later when I came looking for it)

I bet your curious...

...to know if I have any ribbons left.
A few strands yes...

I obviously need more brads though as that little jar isn't filled yet.
Queen & Co bring it on....

These IKEA jars are about 22cm/9 inches tall.
And very tightly packed.

And this one is just for my Strano ribbons.
Those are the ones I hoard. I love just looking at them.
I might even use them...one day.
Maybe.

And the winners are...

...drumroll please...

Ribbon pile #1 goes to MARIE

and

ribbon pile #2 goes to ADRIENNE!

Congratulations, can't wait to see what you cook up with all that ribbon yumminess.

I have Adri's info already, so Marie, would you please email me?

This was fun...
Now what should I do when that counter hits 10 000?
Any ideas?

Want ribbon?

I cleaned up yesterday.
I had to get my ribbons to fit in three big jars.
So I weeded out all doubles etc.
Put bunches in a basket for present wrapping purposes.
The rest I made fit in those jars.

That still left me with two big piles to share.
Your job is to post that you have read today's post and tomorrow (friday) I'll draw two names from a hat.

Please choose your preferred pile.

#1


#2


We are talking some serious ribbons here, folks.
Come on... I know you're reading...

***edited to add***
I so love watching people crawling out of the woodwork!
heheheee...
And another scrapping Finn, coool!
(PS. Minna, miten bloggerilla saa ääkköset toimimaan? Niin kuin näet ne menee ihan hullusti mulla...aaarrgghhh)

The clouds are gone..

The storm clouds just blew right over us, not one drop of water.

And some other dark clouds passed also.
I'm not sure if all of you know that my mom has been battling colon cancer since february. Two big tumors in her colon and the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver. She had a doc's appointment today. The tumors are considerably smaller, only one scarred bit in her liver and her lungs are almost clear.
We are so very relieved and happy.
A big "PHEW!"

Here is the promised wedding album:

You can see the rest of it by clicking here.

Focusing

Sometimes I feel so ADD.
I know it is all just exitement and eagerness to start a new project.
But the thing is I have to finish something before starting something else, right?
My brain refuses to accept this.
It just sticks fingers to its ears and goes "LALALALALLALALALALALLAAAAA!!!"

Take for example the quilt I have worked on for Saara for..coughcoughsevenyearscoughcough.
It sits where I see it half done every day.
I finally picked it up the other day and just sewed.
And all it took was about three hours to finish it!
Now why wasn't I able to do that earlier?
Well, almost finish it.
I had started it with ambitions to hand quilt flowers on it.
Yeah..not happening...
So I have a few stitches to take off before I can throw it in the wash and call it done.
Now if I could just find that handy seam ripper tool...it was just on my desk...geeezzzz..

Now I'm itching to start two minialbums.
This all stems from getting a box in the mail yesterday packed with new KI Memories goodies.
My mind just jumps straight into 5th gear.
Buuuuuuutttt....
There are a few things that need to be finished first.
Besides, I still need photos for both albums.
Yeah, kind of a big one that.
And first this corner of mine needs to be organized better as it is OVERFLOWING.
So trip to IKEA for a shelf and boxes and fun stuff so I can pretty it up.

I already prettied my 'essential tools jar' up.

One more major accomplishment:
I finished my wedding album last night.
Now there's a TA-DAAA!
I'll share it later today.

Now I need to get off-line as I see big black clouds rolling in..and over me.. so humid this morning, it really does need a thunderstorm.
And I like those.
Now come on Mother Nature, give me some noise!

Playtime with Daddy

The girls dragged daddy outside after he got home early from work.

Niina got some wild rides.



Saara got to play catch with daddy.


until this

What you can't see is the ball that just smacked her between the eyes.
Ouch.
A trip tp the ER with a bleeding, swollen nose kinda ouch.
She is so lucky that nose didn't break.
It's going to look wild once the bruise starts changing color though...

And daddy?
Ashamed and guilt-tripped beyond belief.
He really was just throwing an easy drop ball.

SPLAT!

The other morning I was in the kitchen when suddenly I heard a giant bang from the living room.
The window to be exact.
What the...

I went to look and found a dazed looking grey dove outside, shaking its head and thinking "What the..."

Later in the day in a certain light, I saw this on the window:

Take a closer look:

That bird had some speed when it went SPLAT!

It's one of the freakiest yet coolest things I've seen.
I haven't had the heart to wash the window yet.
:oP

water, ice, fridge, antarctica

Trying to think cooling thoughts to keep my brain from frying.
snow

Have you checked that little flashing gizmo on the sidebar that shows the temp here?!
chilled white wine
It is hotter than he** here!
ice, ice, baby
The 30C/86F mark will be passed today.
freezer
The house is sweltering.
No a/c.
ice cream
All that equals no energy.
Lethargy.
freezer aisle at the supermarket
No brain function.
Bickering kids (yes they came home yesterday)
snowangels

Oh fun.

The thought that most comforts me at this hour is that Mika has been rowing a boat for 5 hours now. I do not envy him one bit.
cold shower
All I'm up to is doing laundry, making ice pops and sweat.
ice pops, yeah

There's no end to the heat in sight.
winter

Giggling

I was fixing myself something to eat and started looking for something to read (as I was dining alone... I've always loved reading at the table....yes got into trouble too...).
Looked in the kitchen bookshelf, leafed through a pile of magazines and finally went to the living room bookshelf.
After a bit I looked to the top shelf.
WHAM.
How had I forgotten those books?!

I have five books by Robert Fulghum.
I picked "Uh-oh" to read.

It is impossible to read his books and be grumpy.
I find myself giggling all the time.

Such powerful truths.
Like this one:

Uh-huh + oh-wow +uh-oh +oh, God = ah-hah!

Now go read.
I will.

He's certifiable

Completely nuts.

And it's apparently incurable as this is the fourth time he'll be doing this.

Doing what?

This.
Yes folks, a rowing competition.
60km/37miles rowing.
That calculates to 6+ hours.

Yup, that's right, the fourth time the company is putting up a crew.
This time they have some international resellers in the boat too, I bet they didn't read the small print...

You want to know the best part?
Supposed to hit 29C/84F on saturday.
The heat is ooonnn...the heeeaat is o-ooonnn....(burning, burning, burning...)

Thank goodness I have some sense in my head.
He's learned not to ask me.

So yesterday was relaxing.
Even got the window washed.
While I scrapped I watched the Germany vs Italy football match.
Whoa.
Some finish.

And there's got to be a trick to make unmounted (red rubber) stamps stick to the block, right? Obviously I haven't figured that bit out yet, as last night ready to stamp it goes PLOP into the middle of my page. Not the spot I wanted it at. Not by a longshot. No way to hide it either...
Damn.
I just planted that stamp in two other seemingly random spots and called it funky design.
Ha!

Heat, scrapping, football and a little hockey

Another hot day here, supposed to hit the 27C/80F mark.
I know for some of you that isn't really hot, but for me it is too hot.
Remember I'm a northern girl.
22C/72F is what I call perfect.
My head can't handle heat.

But as is it so hot, it's a perfect day to be in the cool house catching up on emails, I just submitted a bunch of pages flooding inboxes (LOL), scrapping and doing laundry. Oh and washing the livingroom windows..alas I can't get out of that one.

I have finished a couple pages lately.
You get an exclusive preview, I haven't posted these elsewhere yet.

-Sassy-

Pink and KI.
Need I say more?
Check out her cool new highlights!

-Read-

I had so much fun making this. Mixing up loads of stuff. Rhonna Farrer's pp, heidi Swapp & Lil Davis tapes, Gin-X alphas, Scenic Route chipboard, MM sparkly jewel brads...
She's reading Anne of Greengables btw.
Good book.

New month, new tricks.
The July gallery at AMLT is packed with fun ideas.
I always look forward to the 1st of the month to see what the team comes up with.
The Heidi Swapp challenge is my favorite.
All the pink.
This is my page: love U


How many of you are watching the FIFA World Cup?
I've been enjoying the football.
I'd like to see France win.
Zinedine Zidane is my kind of a footballer.

Last week they dropped Brazil, the reigning champions.
Tomorrow they play against Portugal in the semifinals.

Hockey?
But it's July...
Yes..
But for true blue hockey fans and wingnuts it's a sad day.
Steve Yzerman, aka The Captain, announced his retirement.
I lived 30 minutes outside Hockeytown (that's Detroit for you non-hockey people) from '96-'99.
Good years to be in town.

Really good years.
He's a class act. On and off the ice.
There will never be another #19 playing for the Red Wings.
And whoever will be captain next season, has some mighty big skates to fill.

I've been working on this blog entry for two hours now... well... my bro dropped by... had a cup and a good chat.
But now laundry calls.

Happy 4th of July to my stateside friends!
Go set off some fireworks.