Eye candy time!

Last weekend we visited the Habitare exhibit. It's the interior design exhibit that is in town every second September.
I took lots of photos.
And I mean lots.

First thought was "Wow.... lots of white.. where's the color..and who has a house big enough for these sofas?"

And then... ten minutes in... we fell in love.
Meet our new dining room table:

...ummm...yes in white...LOL!
But so is the old one.

Love the table legs in the middle.
We went and ordered this table yesterday.. five weeks and it'll be here!


Hey, look at this, I found some color!

No.. not our new chairs.. I'm keeping the old ones.

This little number did make me think where I could use one.
It is just so cheery!

This has to be one of the coolest fireplaces I've seen...

I love the idea of a shy chandelier.
I might do this with ours...


Not your garden variety lamps and certainly won't end up in my house (imagine dusting that ball one), but they did make me smile.

Oooohhh... this however...
I'd love one for my kitchen.
Two cons though: Mika dislikes it and it costs about $3000.
'Nuff said.

Happy happy happy!

Now this is just too cute!

For some reason, I like these.


Ingenious!
You can put it on the floor or hang it up!

No, not a chandelier... a hood for your cooker!
Really!

Is it a sink or a fridge?
Those Italians are just so smart.

How fun is that??!

Enter the pink kitchen.
Yes, the color will probably get old very fast, but look at this:

I've never seen anything like this.
Really makes use of every available bit of space.

I loved these lights...

Just for fun.

And how's this for fun:

These are tiles.
Snake skin tiles.

Or maybe some crocodile for your floor?

Makes me happy to see photos incorporated onto furniture.

Or even tiles.

Behold.
The fireplace.
We've seen this one earlier and loved it even more now.
It is indeed rusted.
Feels wonderful.

The girls found some conceptional chairs.


The green one is called The Caterpillar.


Eeo Aarnio's Dog.
Reminds me of Tintin's dog Milou :o)

Hmmm... a sofa/bookcase/room?

Ah, sweet memories of childhood.
It's Barbalala from the Barbapapa Family!

Some things I just don't get.
Swarowski crystals on towels and bed linen.
You can't even sleep on those!

Happy prints!

Happy bathroom!

Happy fabric!

(it's some of the statues of Helsinki)

Happy balloons!

(now you know where my banner came from)

Happy fabrics!

Happy bowls!

And then some fun artsy photos:

Did you get through all of that?

Wow.

Congrats!

I *heart* YouTube...

A couple of parenting rant gems.

Tripping 101

And no... not that kind of tripping..

The "trip over sneaky 1st grader and go down gloriously" kind of tripping.
Oh yeah.
Went flying today.

It all started with the fact that it was pouring outside at recess. No chance of kicking these kids outside. So while I was still checking math homework, class 1A came into our classroom to watch "Sound of Music". And one of the girls snuck to sit on the floor next to me, but left her foot behind me.

Can you see where this is going?

I took one step back and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back on the floor. On the way down I banged my head on one desk and my arm on another.
Luckily I was wearing my hair up and my hairclip softened the blow on my head, there's still a small bump back there. And my hairclip is a gonner...
My arm however hurt like hell.

So I traipsed up to the teachers' room with a cold pack and nursed both my head and arm on the couch. I then attempted to go back to class, but the aching got worse and in the end I decided to go to the doctor.
No broken bones. Phew.
But I hit the muscle tissue in between those two bones between my wrist and elbow well and good. It'll probably take a week to heal. I can't put any weight on it today and turning a key in the lock is impossible as the twisting action hurts most.

And yes, it's my right hand.
Just my luck.

I just typed this with my left hand and it took forever.

However I now have a very good excuse to go park myself in my comfy chair under a blanket and start on those two seasons worth of "House, MD" my bro dropped off.
I'll be popping painkillers right alongside with him, heh.

Photo share!

It's been a while since I shared...
Sadly I haven't been taking so many lately.

These are from mid August when Saara had a camp-out birthday party.

We set up two tents together so the girls could talk and giggle half the night.
And naturally it POURED during the night and the birthday girl, who was sleeping in that joint got wet....

The wind blew out most of the candles before I even got the cake to the table, LOL!

Now what's a camp-out witout toasted marshmallows?

Moving into September:

My new favorite shot of my girls.

But later that day... something strange happened...

Can you tell the difference?
Yup, sure is red.
I gave her a color rinse which is mostly gone already.
And she LOVED it.

Aaahhh... that school Sports Day.
This is the relay race for grades 1-4 at 7.45am.
Yes, you read correctly.

It's the moment the 1st grade realizes that the 2nd grade won.
You can see our last runner just coming into the picture.

And our buffet tent, we were setting up at 6.45am.

Yes, one of the 6th grade duties, more camp school fund raising.


Saara doing shot put.


And Niina trying out long jump.
Practicing for 1st grade next year :o)

What free time?

You've probably noticed my postings have been few and far between.

See, in the days before working, I had time during the day to say... take photos, scrapbook, and write blog entries.
Now I come home and have to do the stuff I used to do during the day. You know, like laundry, grocery shop and such. Mmmm... did you hear my eyeroll?
Not too much extra time for blog entries.

I did try at work during the long lunch recess, but blogger and the school computer were not compatable. Would not let me log in.
Great.

Plus I crash land in bed at 10pm.
I have been so aggravated with the 7.34am bus stuck in traffic and consequently making us late, that I switched to the earlier 7.16am bus. I figured I could buy some peace of mind by waking up 15 minutes earlier.
BECAUSE I HATE BEING LATE!
Drives me nuts.
Yesterday just drove me over the edge... the reason for the bad traffic is major construction on a crossing. Major, as in digging tunnels. See, it rained yesterday... and apparently the people in their cars can't find the gas pedal when it's wet.
Must be.
Took.us.forever.and.a.day.

Today it was so much more pleasant in that traffic knowing we were not just right on time, but even a little early!
I'll get up at 6am for that.

Sooooooo... it's another lovely rainy day here. Warmish and wet, the mushrooms are loving it.
Me? Well... I'm not a mushroom.

I do have photos to show you, cross your fingers, I might get some even posted tomorrow.

Mary's story

I have finally typed out Mary's life. So here it is, the story to go with my dollhouse:

Mary Elizabeth Thompson was born in London, England in April 1868. Her parents James and Eleanor were delighted to finally have a girl in the family after four boys. Little did they know she’d be getting into trouble right alongside her brothers. Before Mary’s 2nd birthday the entire family moved to India, as James was named to be a part of Her Majesty’s Indian Military Forces.
Mary took to her new surroundings. The local colors and strange customs fascinated her. As she grew she was known to sneak off the grounds to explore market places, and to take in all the sights and smells. More often than not she was joined by a family servant who would tell her stories that made her even more curious. Needless to say she was more trouble than her brothers combined and Eleanor could only shake her head in despair. James however enjoyed hearing about his daughter’s escapades, and they spent many a happy evening sitting on the porch talking. You could tell he secretly encouraged her daughter.
The siblings happily performed in the elaborate plays they thought up. This activity was encouraged by both parents and was a popular event at any party they hosted. As Mary grew she would entertain guests by dressing up as a fortune teller with a crystal ball and tarot cards. She was quite popular as she could tell a tale that would spin your head. At one of these parties, when she was 18, she noticed a dashing young man looking at her. She found out that this man had recently graduated from Cambridge University and was here to learn an aspect of the family business. Truthfully though, Mary could barely see past those bright blue eyes.
The rest is history.
George Matthew Adair married his Mary in February 1887.
Later that same year the young couple moved back to England. George worked in his father’s import company in Liverpool. They bought a lovely house in the city and regularly took trips around the country.
The house was big and empty for just two people, so it was no surprise when their family grew with three children. John was born in 1889, Grace in 1892 and David in 1901. By this time George was running the company after his father’s death and it kept him busier than he would have liked, but he tried to make up for it.
They lived a comfortable life, taking trips to France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Morocco and Egypt. Mary had always loved to travel and she was happiest on a train or ship traveling towards new adventures. Luckily the children had inherited this curiosity as well. They filled their home with souvenirs and happy memories.
The happy family life changed drastically during World War 1. Despite his parents objections, John joined the army and was killed in action in 1915.
Grace, who had gone to nursing school, abandoned her new career to help her father with the company. She proved to be a natural at business, much to her parents’ surprise. She worked hard to fill the void that John left.
Grace married and had two children, but still continued to work. Much like with her mother back in the day, plenty of eyebrows were raised.
David was now a pilot in the RAF and eventually also settled down to raise a family.
The five grandchildren were a delight to Mary and George. As George retired they bought a lovely house some distance from the city in Wigan. They both enjoyed learning all about gardening, and sitting in the garden reading was one of their favorite pastimes. Along with the occasional road trip, and regular walks to the local pub. George even went so far as to build a greenhouse with David’s help. However the grandchildren always came first. George was the doting grandfather anybody would wish for. He’d play endless games of cricket and go on butterfly hunts, while Mary still told her wild stories.

One autumn evening day in 1934, Mary found George dead in his garden chair with a book still laid in his lap. He was 69.
Mary found it hard to be in the house by herself, so she brought in the stray kitten she found and named her Molly. A few years later she got Harry, her corgi, as a present from Grace and David, much to the grandkids’ delight.

Six years later there is war raging in the world again. Mary fears for David who flies bombing missions. But at 72 she is still a strong willed lady. She might have calmed down from her youth, but just a little. She’s determined to do her bit to help win the war and to contribute in any way possible.

To be continued… surely.

I know I know I know...

In my defense, it's been a busy month so far.
And this week still is.

I have lots to do, lots to plan.
And it's the first round of fall headcolds.
Achooo...

Hopefully I'll get back on the old blogging horse soon.

Beautiful way to start a new month

Isn't it?