A couple pages

I've been going through my childhood photos.
I have to say that the 70's fashion has me baffled.

Exhibit A from 1972:

Cute red sandals.
Chiffon scarf.
Knee highs.
White cardigan.
Floral undies.
And then...
Shirt or dress?

Lets put it this way:
no way my girls will ever step outside wearing THAT hemline!!!

Exhibit B from 1975ish:

NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS put me in anything yellow!
My pallor equals that of a corpse...
I dont care if it was trendy spotted Marimekko.
I'm sure this came in red also... or even brown.
They had to have brown.. c'mon, it was the 70's...

On the bright side... I match the rug.
Eyeroll.

I think it's fall...

Or as I like to refer to it: the four letter F-word.
Heh.

August has lived up to its thundery ways, loving it.
Only this morning I could see my breath.
The sky looks paler.
And it's getting harder to dress the kids in the morning.
Because it's cool in the morning, but warm in the afternoon.
Lets put it this way:
I'm buying Niina a bigger backpack tomorrow.
So there's room for her school books and raingear and sweater.

And yes, getting her gear packed does give me less time to get myself ready. Luckily 1st graders don't care if my hair is all over the place or my socks don't match. Weeellll...the mornings are getting darker and sometimes you just can't tell a dark grey and black sock apart... especially when your eyes aren't open.
I am glad that working in school doesn't require snappy dressing. Comfy clothing is the key. I'm squatting down so many times a day I'm giving my thighs good exercise. And banging my knees in kid sized chairs. Bruises are a daily occurance.

I did get to scrap a few pages this weekend. It had been a few weeks.
I'll see if I can get some more pages done this week and I could even show some here. Several are for the next two AMLT galleries. Plus there's another scrapping project that'll be revealed soon.

OK, I have bills to pay (tuitions... ouch.. now I could use a faculty discount on those, heheheee), pap smear to schedule (not looking forward to that either), minutes of a meeting to type out and still do some weights for my troublesome shoulders before I crash.

And I forgot to buy cereal.... great.

BOOOOMMMMMMM...

I'll start by saying I hate being late.
I was late for work yesterday because there was a three car fender bender slowing the traffic as everyone felt the need to slow down to watch.
[insert eyeroll]

Today started off even worse.
Niina and I stood at the bus stop waiting for the 7.34 bus.
It wasn't there by 7.38.
So we trudged up to the big road and whilst that saw two buses go past.
Great.
[insert frustration over bus schedules]

Did I mention there was pouring down rain and thunder?
No?

Finally got into the next bus, 10 minutes late at this point.
And the traffic was backed up.
Again.
Sigh.

Got Niina to school, the 10 minutes late.
Walked up the stairs from hell (really super steep long stairs) and got to school with my shoes soaking wet.
And trying to catch my breath.
Because those stairs are really from hell.

So my job is to look after three boys with diabetes.
And the most intense case came to school without his gear.
No blood sugar counter or insulin pen.
[insert huge mental temper tantrum over bohemian mothers]
Lectured about school responsibilities.
Felt better when said gear was brought to school.

Did I mention the thunder?
It got really dark around 10.30.
I mean November dark.
And then...

CRASH BOOOMMMM BANG FLASH times oh about a million.

We are talking about the mother of all thunderstorms.
So half the kids are running to the windows going: Wow that CRASH was sooo cool, BOOM BANG did you see that FLASH and FLASH whoooaaaa FLASH FLASH FLASH!
While the other half pretty much made a run for it.
[insert desperate sigh]
Made for an interesting lunch (sausage soup, blech) though.
And hey, no 30 minute outside recess.
Although several teachers were tempted to just shove the lot outside and be done with it.

It was one of my short days, 8-12.15.
[insert happy dance]
I had decided to take the tram downtown and do a little shopping before picking up Niina from daycare.
Standing at the tram stop, I saw four trams go the opposite direction, but none coming back.
Then remembered that I had promised to meet my bro at my house at 1pm.
[insert swearing]
Walk up another set of stairs from hell to go pick up Niina.
Now why did they build the school on top of a huge rock is all I'm asking.

Got home only 10 minutes late at exactly the same time as my bro.
We had people coming from the recycling center to pick up furniture from my mom's house.

I did get some shopping done, took the girls to the mall.
Saara now has good shoes.
[insert hallelujah chorus]
Called Attitude.
[insert groan]

Like I don't get enough of that already...

Ilmoitus suomeksi

Päätin tehdä ihan suomenkielisen blogin pelkästään nukkekoti jutuille.
Toki täältäkin löytyy tulevaisuudessa kuvia, mutta kaikki tulee olemaan selvällä suomenkielella täällä: Elämää koossa 1/12.

Saa viestia muille myötämielisille :o)

(that was just info for my Finnish readers... carry on)

Whooshing by

This flew right by our house last night.

Close enough to touch... almost.

This is something I want to do one day.

Design doesn't need to be serious...

Just look at this table called Illusion.
Makes me smile.

I was leafing through this designer catalog the other day and decided to show you what made me smile. I like designers who are not faraid to step outside boundaries. The ones who break a few rules and make something extraordinary.


Guess what these utensils are called... Open Air.
Ha!


I've seen this in real life. Look at the shadow it makes.
Maple leaves.
Ingenious.


Oh to have a beach to light up with flower pots.


This one made me giggle...
It's called Capt'n Hook.
Best part?
Cheap and easy to make yourself.


Love the thought of a shy chandelier....


Now here's a thought....
Wrap a photo around your washing machine!


And this last stepladder/chair is something I want for my kitchen.
In red maybe.

Hey Santa.... I've been extra good this year....

Heatwave, school, aqua, fairy and oh.. I rock!

It is hot.
At 7pm it is still +27C. (that's 81F)
Plus it is humid.
Killing me.
Too much for me.
Right now, my feet are swollen and feel like they are on fire.
Ugh.

So you can imagine just how nice and warm it was at school today.
Yeah.
What air conditioning???
By the time I got home even my underwear was sweaty... LOL!
The shower felt nice.

But hey, school!
Yup, first day.
For me it started by taking Niina to daycare for the first time at 7.30am as I had a 8am meeting. It's funny what makes school faculty giddy.
No it wasn't the heat.
Or the chocolates in the teachers' room.
It was the brand new shiny COLOR copymachine that can fold and staple too!
Oh yes, folks, we were practically jumping for joy.
Ooooohhhhing and aaaahhhhing.

I'm on first grade this year, looking after three diabetic boys.
Nice class.
We had a good time today.
Even if Saara was completely embarrassed when I introduced myself to the elementary schhol at our info meeting. It is simply appalling that I'm working under the same roof... bwaahaaa...
And after the beasts were let loose after lunch, there was a faculty group photo taken and a special lunch. We even got ice cream.

And Niina loved her day.
She starts school tomorrow and will be going to daycare after school.
Only not this week, as I get out at the same time with a shortened schedule.
Working 9-12 this week.
Not too shabby...

Now onto something different.
I've been on Flickr again.
And as I was browsing my favorites I realized I had a lot of photos in this color:

1. aqua vs. red, 2. res+, 3. Mirror on the Wall, 4. the life aquatic, 5. Jamaica-Me Happy, 6. blues, 7. The Posie studio, repainted and reorganized at last!, 8. cupcake swap: the apron, 9. petti and boots, 10. flowers on a hill (detail), 11. Untitled, 12. Getty Tomb by Sullivan, door detail, 13. "dream", 14. The Posie studio, repainted and reorganized at last!, 15. 926, 16. Oh So Pretty!

What is it about aqua that fascinates me?
I have plans to paint one wall in this office I sit in with aqua.
Trying to introduce a bit more color into out bland white scandinavian walls.
We also found a really cool Designers Guild wallpaper I'd like to use on one small wall in the kitchen. I couldn't find a picture of it online anywhere... so you'll have to wait a few months.
There are tuitions to pay first.
Apparently there is no faculty discount on those...

Alright, then some more fairy door pictures.

She has planted some lovely ivy by the door.

There's also patio furniture and a clothesline.


On the reading list...


And then there's this



I got two of these honors this past week!
One from Heli and the other from May.
Now how cool is that.

And apparently I should give out some rockin' honors myself.
My top rockin' girls are:

Tia.
Cause she rocks. Period.
Ursula.
Cause her photos rock.
Alicia.
Cause this whole aqua thing is her fault ;-P

and

Susie.
Cause she likes to jump.

Enjoy the limelight.
I'm off to find something to cool my feet...
Or I won't be able to sleep tonight.
At.
All.

The ripple effect

They look delicious, don't they?

1. Ripple Progress, 2. Before frogging, 3. ripple2 002, 4. ripple, 5. :: ripple ::, 6. Keep going going, 7. Ripple--Take 4, 8. Ripple blanket progress #2, 9. Ripple blanket in progress!

I've been admiring these crocheted blankets for a while now.
Today I took the plunge.
Printed out instructions.
Turns out this is really simple to do!

Dug out all my yarns. Because what ever the project, you always end up with left overs...
Spent some time matchmaking.
Then I used this fun online helper to design the stripe pattern for me.

It's coming along... in yellows, salmon, white and black.

Remember my Marimekko fabric stash?
I've used many to make napkins.

Who said napkins have to match?
Not in my house.


I also got a little bag made for me.
The "smile" is a Heidi Swapp iron-on.

I'll go back to making waves now.
Heheheeee...

Last week of freedom

Schools start next Monday.
And the girls are thrilled/bummed respectively.
Looks like I'll start work then also.
Details still being worked out.

So I'll be making most of my week.
The weather is beautiful, so naturally I'm going into the basement to paint in the sauna, that's logical right? I'll also be doing laundry, continue building the dollhouse, maybe scrap one project and ship the girls off to my dad's on Thursday. We'll pick them up on Sunday when we go that way to a confirmation.

The girls slept in a tent in the backyard last night. I thought they's be back inside as soon as the first odd night sound would make them think of monsters, but no. They stayed the entire night and apparently had a blast.

I've managed to make a few more mini things, I'll post photos later this week.

Tawny, I owe you an email...
I think we skipped the whole Christmas in July thing. Just remembered it. Shall we make new plans? Two Christmases for the price of one? Hehehee..

I won cool stamps and embellishments at Sharyn's blog!
I'm so excited, I haven't tried Technique Tuesday stuff before.

What else... hmmm...

It's our 14th anniversary tomorrow and we have no plans.
That I know of.
And I'm pretty darn sure no plans will emerge unless I make them, heh.
But just in case he happens to read this in time:
a bottle of bubbly and some pretty flowers are enough.
And consider my nameday sorted out, ok? (it's on the 11th)
I ordered two books for myself from Play.com last night.
So it's all good.

Alrighty then, off to hang laundry and paint some radiators.

Thinking small... again

A few things have been missing in Mary's house. She's a really sweet lady but she had finally had to wait long enough and gave me quite an earful
;-)

The biggest issue were the inside doors that were ready, just not up.
They are finally in!

I do love these doors.
And as far as doors go, only one thing is still missing.. proper hinges for the front door.

The other thing amiss was that there was no place to eat at.

After trying in vain to find a table just the right size I decided to build one.
It's just perfect.

The chairs are made of kits I picked up in Stockholm.

I've also added another comfy chair and a new table lamp to the living room.

There's a plant waiting to be hung by the window, but I've been told curtains need to go up first.

I've also been slowly adding things into the pantry. Not the easiest task as I have to stay in 1940's items.

Here's a closeup of the kitchen door and the new coat rack.
So what is in that box?

The issued gas mask of course.
Some leather and eyelets... looks appropriately gruesome doesn't it?

There's also a sewing box. I bought this 1920's style cake tin, and made the spools.
How? Easy peasy.

A little glue, thread and a toothpick is all that is needed.

I even got the house number up .
#1, as it is the first house I built.

And did you notice Harry?

Mary's new companion, a Welsh pembroke corgi.

So, how is house #4 coming along?
Pretty good.


Loving the floor... this will be the bakery/cafe.

The floor will continue over to the bookstore.
Today I need to paint and glue some support beams so I can get the roof on.

...they caaallll me gluuuuueeeeeeeee fiiiingeeerrrr......
heh.

Hi

Thought it was time to say "Hi" face to face.

Saara gave me this face today:

Wanna know why?
I learned a new trick with a Pez candy dispenser.
A sure way to get a giggle out of a kid.

If you cut it just a little, the dispenser slides right into your flash bit.
I always thought Marge was cool.

And if this doesn't get a smile.. there's always the candy for bribing.