Behind door one...

No Laura, it's not my own scraproom... I only wish.
However I wouldn't mind sending Mika behind this door ROFL!

So...are you ready?
I can't believe I'm showing you all this.
Shield your eyes. Quick.
Then carefully peek through your fingers, OK?
'Cause it ain't pretty...
In fact it hasn't had much done for ..oh...about 50 years... except for odd furniture shoved in...

Welcome to my sauna dressing room/laundry room in my basement.
It needs a few things done. Really.

I'm working on that laundry this week. While emptying the room and washing and painting the walls. Before I have to unplug and move the washer.

That desk is so out of there. In pieces... I'm thinking of warming that sauna with it *grin*

You know that couch is really quite beautiful. Unique, custom made. It's called Tunturi in fact :o)

The newspaper is filling in places in that door. Sigh....

Here's the new color scheme.
Cream for the walls and ceiling, the taupish color is the floor and the fabric will cover the couch. I wanted chenille, but apparently they don't import chenille to Finland. I kept getting 'oh, we haven't had it for years' answers...grrr... I was lucky to find this really super soft corduroy though.
The rest of the furnishings are coming from IKEA. As soon as I have that room painted I'm going shopping!

This shelf is about 120cm/4ft tall. It'll hold my detergents and towels.

The detergents are leaving their ugly boxes and live in nice simple glass containers like this one.

Odd bottles of fabric softener and schtuff go in these baskets on those shelves.

And I'm getting three of these pretty cans for my laundry. I like to separate it right away.

Pretty soft rugs for the floor to keep your toes warm.

And you noticed the bald bulbs? No more. Two of these will replace them. In fact I better call my electrician uncle that I have a job for him. Truly that wiring is from the 1950's!!!
I have no idea how long this project will take.
But I'm starting this today.
By hauling stuff out of there.
I'm so looking forward to seeing this room all prettied up.
Keep tuned for updates.

Oh yeah!

It's finally here!
The box I've been waiting for a while.
(Jill, maybe it took a tour of Greenland...what do you think? Hey, I've had that happen once ROFL!)
My stuff is here.

New Basic Grey. And Heidi Swapp.
I have a project I need to finish tonight.

And tomorrow, I'll tell you more about the project I'm starting behind this ugly yellow door.

It's a doozer.

Oh and did you notice I added a clock to the sidebar?
Now you'll see what time it is for me.
And my clock doesn't say am or pm. It'll look like military time for you US folk. So if it says 21.30 it means 9.30pm. We count our day in 24 hours.
I'm not sure that made sense as there is 24 hours in a day...
Right. I'm off... LOL!

6x6 me

Nicola sent me to this blog of Kirsty's to take part is a challenge to scrap a page of me, myself and I.

I had so much fun making this. I'm addicted now to cutting the tiny scraps I save to make these flowers. I don't know who to blame more.. Elsie the Great or Suziebeezie ;o)
The middle says "I am..."
And the petals (in no particular order): summer gardener, me, mother of two lovely girls, a creative being, faithful friend, wife to Mika, proud of myself.
You know what I like best about this 6x6 creation? It's made using ONLY scraps. Gotta love that!

I think I confused a few of you...

...LOL.. by trying to explain nordic walking.

I let Saara take a few pics before I did my walk just now.

Note the red shoes!

My creative space

I thought I'd show you my scrap space today. I actually cleaned it up!!

My absolute favorite thing right now is this jar full of sparkly stuff.

oh and the jar is just 10cm/4" tall ;o)

My SCHTUFF houses here in this desk/cupboard.

On the top is a basket of minialbums etc, one magazine holder filled with stickers etc and the other filled with alphabet stickers... ummm...yes...I might need an intervention...LOL! The IKEA jars have prima flowers, the sparklies and fabric flowers, the 'remember' box has alphabet stamps and rub ons. The small drawers house ribbon ends, tags, ephemera and the like.

Peek inside. It's pretty packed in there. Embellishments galore.
The cool corner stamps (circled) I just bought yesterday, love them!

Back in there are my ribbon containers. I haven't used much ribbon lately... maybe I need to move them up front?

The lower door hides my scrap collection. (sorry about the not quite sharp photo...) All organized by color, except the KI scraps which have a box ALL their own. Yes it's a disease.

Big mess in here... no need to look further.
Really.

Whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff in here... cd's, stamps, punches, small albums...

My patterned paper is organized mostly by company in this IKEA cube. Scraps waiting to be organized are in the big glass jar.

My small magnetic strip. Odds and ends. Happy stuff.

My half of the desk. I need new speakers and webcam...these are dead.

Essential stuff (like gum) at arm's reach. the litle tray has embellishments that need to be cleaned away.

And finally a layout I managed to mess up with pink ink last night.UUUGGGHHHH!!!!
How the heck do I get that off....

I finished cleaning and purging in Niina's room and now I'm needed to vacuum at my mom's.
Catch you later!

Total embarrassment...

I have lost my cool factor.
Gone.
Just like that.
sigh.

Have you ever heard of 'nordic walking'?
No?
That's what I thought.
Very uncool.

You know crosscountry skiing? Skis on your feet and poles in hand?
Forget the skis and add walking shoes.
Yes. Really.
I told you it is uncool.

Unfortunately it's doctor's orders for me.
It'll help my troubled neck and shoulders.
I bought the poles yesterday. Took them on a test drive today.
I have to say it adds a certain cardio-vascular element to walking, I was in fact sweating after 30 minutes of fast paced walking.
But this is something little old ladies do!
Not me! I refuse to be middle aged!
I'll fight against that one.

I'm hoping my hot red walking shoes help a bit.
And if nothing else, then Natasha Bedingfield on my iPod singing
"I'm a bomb, can you hear me tick? Beware if you turn me on, there is no safety switch. I'm a bomb, use only steady hands, to mess with me...you must be a brave man."
must add some cool back.
Right?

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....

This was us yesterday. Perfect weather.

OK so this hill might not look like much from down here...

...but once you are on top it's a whole other story!

Then a little warning story... not to aim for the biggest bump...

...heheee...so glad I brought the camera!

Just so the other doesn't feel left out :o)

Made one for Niina too. Sorry about the harsh light, the sun was shining. Hey, no complaints over that!
And like I said earlier, these are for sale customized to your likes.

Freaky scary Tuesday night

Sooo... who wants to hear of Suski's exciting tuesday night ambulance ride?

I've got your attention now, right?

Cause I scared everyone and myself really good.

For the past few days I've been hearing this crunchy sound at the base of my skull whenever I turned my head to the left. Last night after I put the girls to bed, I was sweeping the kitchen floor when I felt this really weird sensation in my head. Like a heat wave starting from the back of my neck and sweeping upwards to the top of my skull. A minute later it felt like ice water was going through there. I felt a bit woozy and lay down on the kitchen floor. Called out for Saara, told her I wasn't feeling too good and to go get grandma (Mika was out to eat with the guys from the firm). My mom takes one look at me and calls 112 (that's our 911). Less than 10 minutes later I have three EMTs in my kitchen, trying to figure out what the hell is wrong, they are puzzled. At this point the shock has set in and I can't stop trembling, truly freaky. Cause I don't freak out or panic. I'm completely coherent and calm, just shaking like a rattle... They ask me it's up to me if I want to ride with them. I tell them I'd rather do that, as I've never felt anything like this before and HEL-LO it's my head here!!!

These EMTs were so sweet, Saara was clearly scared out of her mind and one of the guys took time to chat with her and calm her down. I can't praise these guys enough.
And they were hot too... ;)

I'll tell you this, your mind goes to insane places during an ambulance ride. And all the while your head feels like it's either on fire or iced.

Mika got to the ER a few minutes before me as he was downtown already, so he met up woth me there. Poor man.. I scared him half to death. Haven't seen him that caring in a while so it wasn't all bad.

The doc checks me out and we come to the conclusion that my shoulder and neck muscles are so jammed, completely locked up that it's sending this sensation through the nerves at the base of the neck. They gave me a really strong relaxant, a week's prescription for more (not quite as strong) and I promised to go see my bro's girlfriend, who is a physiotherapist, today so she can help my poor neck.

Today I feel like I've been under one of those asphalt machines, you know the ones that roll it flat? I have a heatpack on my neck and my bro is picking me up a bit past three so Petra can help me. I'm so not driving today.Basically I feel like crap.

But I'm just thankful it was only my poor stressed out muscles. So in retrospect, this whole business of my mom's illness and seeing over two households has been a bit too much.

Oh and Niina? She slept through the entire thing. Gotta give the EMTs credit for knocking instead of ringing the doorbell! :)

Hopefully typing won't be this painful in a couple days.

Taking orders :o)

If anyone of you is interested in a customized piece of wall art, please tell me so by leaving a comment.

For $20 you get a 4x4 altered coaster shipped to you anywhere in the world.
All I need from you is a photo, an initial and a color of choice.
I accept PayPal only.

(and I'll pay a bit more attention on the initial placement..LOL... call this a lesson learnt!)

Final pages of the Christmas Journal!

Yes, it's March already... and the last prompt was Jan 6th... so?
The main thing is I GOT IT FINISHED!
YES!
Time for a quick happy dance!
Wooo hooo!

So here are my last pages for your viewing pleasure:

Year 2005 in review.

Thoughts on the New Year, I painted the KI letters with a glittery layer.

Hopes and feelings on the change of another year.

My take on innocence. To believe or not to believe? ;o)

Fave moment of the season was when the tree was brought in.

Next year, I have to remember to chill and relax.

Packing Christmas away for 11 months.

Joulu= Christmas.

Here it is.. in all its glory!

I've also uploaded all the pages to my gallery at 2Peas in two parts:
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=792844 and http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=792847 .

Random Monday madness

- the truckdrivers are on strike. This means buses are far and few between (luckily not in my area, so I can still get Saara to school and back). Stores will be slow to get stock. And worst of all... no garbage pick up! My pick up day is Tuesday... I suppose this is the point when I count my blessings that I have a BIG 'garbage can' (not really a can.. more like a huge boxy thing) that will hold I think three weeks worth of garbage bags. And yes... it might be three weeks before this strike ends.

- your toes get deep frozen when you stand in -6C (21F) weather waiting for your kid to finish tobogganing for 45 minutes.

- have I mentioned it has snowed on every single day in March so far? In January it was all about unseasonally warm weather.. now it's all about unseasonally cold weather. It's supposed to be spring damn it.

- Cathy Z and Donna D are hilarious. How do I know? I just listened to a podcast you can download on Cathy's blog http://www.cathyzielske.typepad.com/ Those two had me giggling while I shoveled snow.

- Tia http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/userprofile.asp?user_id=166407 rocks. She got me out of a Cactus-Pink-uninspired-rut by raving about buttons. Yes, I know it all sounds vague, but I can't show you until April 1st. No April fools either. You just have to be patient. Oh and I guess the concensus was that in fact we both totally rock. *grin*

- week two of chauffering my mom is interfering with my schedule. You know the schedule of cleaning toilets and ironing... ha!

- I got my 2Peas PUB cookbook in the mail today!!! How very exciting.

- it was a good mail day (well except for my cell phone bill). Thank You Karen for sending me the Pottery Barn kids and teen catalogs!

- I need a shoulder massage badly.

- what on earth do I make for dinner today?
DUH. Didn't I just get a cookbook in the mail?

- I hate starting the week by going to the grocery store. But.. we are out of milk, bread and food in general.

- did you know that 3 girls (aged 10, 10 and 5) having a pillowfight upstairs on a Saturday night can drive you to the gin bottle? Yes, it really can.

- have to go grab a snack before driving to get my mom. See ya!

Unfinished stuff

..it just bothers me when I can't finish projects I've started.

Like the quilt I've been making for Saara for..oh...seven years now..
Sad isn't it.
Saara just asked me the other day when I'd finish it.
I better grit my teeth and get it done.
I hereby promise that it WILL be done by Christmas.
Promise.

But before I tackle that I am finishing something else.
The Christmas journal I had 8 pages undone.
I got 5 of them done tonight.
3 more tomorrow.

Feels good.

Go get inspired!

*edited* fixed the link!

At the March AMLT gallery:
http://amillionlittlethings.com/gallery/index.php?cat=13

Totally worth your time!
I promise.

Spring, feel free to join us...anytime...

Every year when March rolls in I yearn for spring.
We do have lovely bright sunshine today.
Shining on 5cm (2 inches) of new powder snow... and it's -10C (14F).

All I'm saying is it would be sooo lovely to start April with no snow. And a spring jacket.

I'm procrastinating here.
I should be loading my mom's laundry in the washer.
I should be doing my pilates excercise.
I should be scrapping.
I should be emptying the dishwasher.
I should be folding laundry.
I should be anywhere but the computer.

But.

Can't think of a good excuse.
Oh heck.
That means I should stop procrastinating, right?