Yesterday I went to the library and saw a free newspaper called 6 Degrees. It appears to be similar to The Coast with a bit more context and no Dan Savage (as far as I know). It's an English paper for all of Finland and had some great things in there such as articles and advertisements of events for each big city or town in Finland. Which is nice.
There are also movie ads...and I noticed that "UP" is coming to theaters October 9th - the day after my husband's birthday...but more so 5 months after it's May 29, 2009 release date in North America.
We've seen all the movies up to date so far prior to leaving Canada - so at approximately 5 months between each film (or more) we should be theater free for the next 2 years at least!! I think GI JOE was the last movie we saw...so yeah we should be theater free for awhile. I don't even know where the theater is here.
I visited the library again today (but didn't go up and down the stairs as much - which helped I think) and managed to get 3 books reserved (one will come next week from another library) on needle felting. I had gone yesterday but the books the librarian helped me find were all about wet-felting techniques. Which is messy (depending on the size of the project) and not exactly what I wanted.
The librarian was helpful and it is 1 Euro per item reserved - to be paid at time of pick up. Which isn't that bad considering they have to either e-mail or mail you a letter to inform you that your book is ready for pick up. I opted for e-mail as I try to go as paperless as possible in terms of bills and whatnot. That and it makes it easier on Tim and I when Loki's barking at the mail man if he's not quiet enough dropping the mail - HA.
I am presently working on a pig - why I don't know. I do have quite a bit of pink wool left - so that could be it. I need to pick up some more yellow if I am going to attempt a better duck for a future order and I definitely need some red for some Christmas cards that are on hold.
I had no idea how much red was used in Christmas/winter themed cards. Candy canes, Santa, Rudolph, poinsettia flowers, mistletoe berries....the list goes on. But I think that will be October's adventure - completing all of the Christmas cards before baby Riggs makes their big debut in early November.
I feel wretched. Not ill or sick or in a tonne of pain - but I just cannot get back into crocheting for the life of me. I have a scarf started for a gift and a single slipper completed for Tim's birthday (Oct. 8) and I just do not have the tolerance or patience to finish the 2nd slipper. I'm sure it wouldn't take more than an hour and a half but I cannot do it.
It took me awhile to get some motivation to do some needle felting tonight. Usually when I got into a creative block - I just tighten up previous works and felt them some more...or play a video game for a bit or read...but it took me atleast 2 hours to figure out that I wanted to make a Pig. I'm taking some advice to heart from my colleagues in the Felting Forum I'm with - so I'm going to do the head first completely - and then hopefully be able to work on my symmetry and proportions this way.
I'm also going to try wet felting some soap. The purpose? To decorate the soap with a cover of felt, which acts as an exfoliator for the skin (great for those that have dirty hands all the time - i.e. gardeners) and helps to keep the soap life longer. These may be the Christmas presents for abroad instead. We'll see.
41 days left....
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
I may not know a word of Finnish - but the blonde roots are coming through.
I've had many blonde moments or silly moments -whichever term you prefer to use.
I've referred to Euros as "Pounds" for a few days when we first moved here...which makes no sense as Canadian currency is Dollars and cents.
The most recent blonde moment was last night- which I forgot to post in my previous posting... here it goes:
I'm on Skype with my dad - we had set up a time and naturally the internet was up and down.
When I finally got online and in the chat room - my Dad calls me. I'm hovering over my laptop microphone (it's in the top part above the screen) yelling, "Can you hear me?" But he sounds so far away. I couldn't figure it out and hung up and just chatted via typing.
He calls back again "Hello can you hear me Dominique"?
Well no I can't. This goes on for about 5 minutes - and then I realized - the volume's on 10 - which is equivalent to barely above a whisper.
Hope that made your day.
I've referred to Euros as "Pounds" for a few days when we first moved here...which makes no sense as Canadian currency is Dollars and cents.
The most recent blonde moment was last night- which I forgot to post in my previous posting... here it goes:
I'm on Skype with my dad - we had set up a time and naturally the internet was up and down.
When I finally got online and in the chat room - my Dad calls me. I'm hovering over my laptop microphone (it's in the top part above the screen) yelling, "Can you hear me?" But he sounds so far away. I couldn't figure it out and hung up and just chatted via typing.
He calls back again "Hello can you hear me Dominique"?
Well no I can't. This goes on for about 5 minutes - and then I realized - the volume's on 10 - which is equivalent to barely above a whisper.
Hope that made your day.
3 hours walking is not a good idea anymore...
Alright - here's the confession - I need to slow down.
I'm really good at getting pumped to go downtown for a walk - some Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift get me going....but coming back - the old people with their cross-country ski poles pass me..it's sad.
Anyways - today's adventure was to call the vet - and nobody spoke English. But at least I made my first call successfully. I was looking for the flea drops and she told me to call back - I never did. As I figure that it's slightly pointless as she'll probably still be on the phone 2 hours later.
So I've put a post out there on the Finnish Forum I read frequently - hopefully somebody knows. It's not that the vet is far away - I am estimating about a 10-15 minute walk - UP HILL. Up a very steep hill...that's all.
I didn't go to the medical clinic. Maybe tomorrow - which is pathetic because the parking lot (as previously mentioned) I can see from my living room window.
2nd thing on the agenda (well I suppose 3rd) - was to go to Elisa and get an updated version of the CD-ROM I need to install the modem. However it's still not working and that was a 30 minute jaunt downtown. I'm getting very frustrated by the whole process overall.
I have internet - when I don't necessarily want or need it.
It's when I do need it or am planning on meeting someone online - that I don't have it.
ARGH.
I figured since I am downtown I may as well go to the library and return one book while finding some on needle felting. The first lady didn't speak a lot of English and the 2nd one found me lots of books on wet-felting. I'm thinking the needle felting ones were all checked out as I didn't see any of them on the shelves.
I'm going to hold off on another trip downtown - as it's killin' the hips and lower back.
Time to post this before I lose internet (again).
I'm really good at getting pumped to go downtown for a walk - some Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift get me going....but coming back - the old people with their cross-country ski poles pass me..it's sad.
Anyways - today's adventure was to call the vet - and nobody spoke English. But at least I made my first call successfully. I was looking for the flea drops and she told me to call back - I never did. As I figure that it's slightly pointless as she'll probably still be on the phone 2 hours later.
So I've put a post out there on the Finnish Forum I read frequently - hopefully somebody knows. It's not that the vet is far away - I am estimating about a 10-15 minute walk - UP HILL. Up a very steep hill...that's all.
I didn't go to the medical clinic. Maybe tomorrow - which is pathetic because the parking lot (as previously mentioned) I can see from my living room window.
2nd thing on the agenda (well I suppose 3rd) - was to go to Elisa and get an updated version of the CD-ROM I need to install the modem. However it's still not working and that was a 30 minute jaunt downtown. I'm getting very frustrated by the whole process overall.
I have internet - when I don't necessarily want or need it.
It's when I do need it or am planning on meeting someone online - that I don't have it.
ARGH.
I figured since I am downtown I may as well go to the library and return one book while finding some on needle felting. The first lady didn't speak a lot of English and the 2nd one found me lots of books on wet-felting. I'm thinking the needle felting ones were all checked out as I didn't see any of them on the shelves.
I'm going to hold off on another trip downtown - as it's killin' the hips and lower back.
Time to post this before I lose internet (again).
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Things that I absolute love about Finland (so far!)
I know it's only month 2 - but here's a list (no particular order) of things that I really love and appreciate about Finland.
- It was easy getting into Helsinki. Even leaving or entering Canada isn't as such a smooth process as it is here.
- It doesn't rain for weeks.
- You weigh your own veggies and fruits (and some baked goods - bulk section). I hate having to guess how much something weighs and then figure out how much it costs. I find with this method I am more careful with our money. Because if you print the sticker and figure you don't need that much or don't want to pay that much - you can just stick get a different item and re-price it.
- The internet banking is complicated at first - but it's wonderful. In the sense that any items that are due to come out of your account are put on a "reservation" so that you can't spend that money. This way - you're guaranteed to have the funds available.
-The banking overall - you can pay someone online, at the ATM or at the bank and put money into their account if you have their account #.
-The Kela program - unfortunately I'm not completely familiar with it - but if you read my previous posts about the Maternity Package (which I do not qualify for this time round) - it's a pretty sweet deal.
- The cheap cell phone plans. The monthly fee is under a Euro. The monthly fee in Canada is $6.95. As well the cancellation fee per line is 100 Euros - compared to $400.
- The library...it's beautiful. And their system for checking things out.
- Their "Every Man's Right" rule - where within reason, one can camp anywhere or go onto someone's property without getting in trouble. Great for berry picking!
- The safe environment here. I have no problem walking around in the dark if I had to - with or without my dogs (who are not very scary - but in the dark - maybe).
- Despite a language barrier - the attempt of various staff to assist you in anyway possible. Either by getting someone else who speaks English or by patiently explaining things with hand gestures.
- No humidity.
-The promotion for outdoor activity (bikes, walking trails etc) and healthy living
- The pastries and sweets
I am sure there is much more to discover and many things I am forgetting - but the connection has been awful for the last hour and a half. So with this - I say goodnight!
- It was easy getting into Helsinki. Even leaving or entering Canada isn't as such a smooth process as it is here.
- It doesn't rain for weeks.
- You weigh your own veggies and fruits (and some baked goods - bulk section). I hate having to guess how much something weighs and then figure out how much it costs. I find with this method I am more careful with our money. Because if you print the sticker and figure you don't need that much or don't want to pay that much - you can just stick get a different item and re-price it.
- The internet banking is complicated at first - but it's wonderful. In the sense that any items that are due to come out of your account are put on a "reservation" so that you can't spend that money. This way - you're guaranteed to have the funds available.
-The banking overall - you can pay someone online, at the ATM or at the bank and put money into their account if you have their account #.
-The Kela program - unfortunately I'm not completely familiar with it - but if you read my previous posts about the Maternity Package (which I do not qualify for this time round) - it's a pretty sweet deal.
- The cheap cell phone plans. The monthly fee is under a Euro. The monthly fee in Canada is $6.95. As well the cancellation fee per line is 100 Euros - compared to $400.
- The library...it's beautiful. And their system for checking things out.
- Their "Every Man's Right" rule - where within reason, one can camp anywhere or go onto someone's property without getting in trouble. Great for berry picking!
- The safe environment here. I have no problem walking around in the dark if I had to - with or without my dogs (who are not very scary - but in the dark - maybe).
- Despite a language barrier - the attempt of various staff to assist you in anyway possible. Either by getting someone else who speaks English or by patiently explaining things with hand gestures.
- No humidity.
-The promotion for outdoor activity (bikes, walking trails etc) and healthy living
- The pastries and sweets
I am sure there is much more to discover and many things I am forgetting - but the connection has been awful for the last hour and a half. So with this - I say goodnight!
Just Beat It! (Nothing in relation to MJ or dirty jokes - just dirt I suppose)
So lately I've been hearing these odd popping sounds outside - even with the balcony door and windows closed. I'm thinking - oh construction work I suppose. But on a Sunday? Well maybe it's cars driving over manhole covers - but there aren't any.
We decided to walk our dogs downtown and back figuring this would tire them out easily. An hour and a half walk and Loki was slowly climbing a hill but as soon as he completed his thirst at home - he pursued to annoy us with his barks and wanting to play ball.
On our way back home I heard the popping sounds again as we turned onto our street. Hmm - I'm looking for all the vehicles parked near the construction site down the road from us - and there's no cars. It turns out - people are beating their rugs/carpets outside. I never knew how loud it could be! There's these metal racks to drape your carpet over as you smack it with your carpet-smacker? Not sure what the proper term is for those sticks with a lily-pad shape at the end of them....feel free to correct me - as "Carpet-Smacker" sounds awful.
During our walk downtown - which obviously tired Blue out (he's passed out at my feet presently) we took some odd paths and went up some steep/large hills. I'm sure my hips will be thanking me later...
We discovered that behind Grilli 21 there is a gravel path (which I knew) and there was an outdoor seating area for a stage! The dogs had a great time running up and down the stone/wooden seated area and we figured it was time to head home as Loki wasn't able to keep up with Tim running up and down the stairs.
Clearly we're wrong -however Loki is on the balcony "Camping" - so maybe he's napping as well as people watching. Whenever Loki barks a lot - we tell him to go camping on the balcony - just so he gets to sniff the air, be nosy and have the chance to calm down. It sounds terribly rude I'm sure - but it sounds better than "Go take a hike". Ha.
I finished the novel by Jodi Picoult, "Handle With Care" - truly wonderful. A bit of a heart wretcher and I definitely cried during a few spots.
I'm going to start reading "Nineteen Minutes" also by J. Picoult. I'm very excited as I think I may have found a new author I am thoroughly enjoying to read. I may even go downtown tomorrow (weather permitting - who likes walking in the rain anyways?) to hunt around for some more of her novels and see about getting the nerve to ask a library staff member to help me find "Needle felting" books.
Anyways - I am craving something hearty and hot - so I'm thinking of making some chicken soup with potatos, carrots, herbs and left over chicken bones from last night's meal. So domesticated I know.
Oh and I forgot to mention this AGES ago - but we haven't seen a single pot hole here in town!! It's weird - but good for the bikers and the tires!
We decided to walk our dogs downtown and back figuring this would tire them out easily. An hour and a half walk and Loki was slowly climbing a hill but as soon as he completed his thirst at home - he pursued to annoy us with his barks and wanting to play ball.
On our way back home I heard the popping sounds again as we turned onto our street. Hmm - I'm looking for all the vehicles parked near the construction site down the road from us - and there's no cars. It turns out - people are beating their rugs/carpets outside. I never knew how loud it could be! There's these metal racks to drape your carpet over as you smack it with your carpet-smacker? Not sure what the proper term is for those sticks with a lily-pad shape at the end of them....feel free to correct me - as "Carpet-Smacker" sounds awful.
During our walk downtown - which obviously tired Blue out (he's passed out at my feet presently) we took some odd paths and went up some steep/large hills. I'm sure my hips will be thanking me later...
We discovered that behind Grilli 21 there is a gravel path (which I knew) and there was an outdoor seating area for a stage! The dogs had a great time running up and down the stone/wooden seated area and we figured it was time to head home as Loki wasn't able to keep up with Tim running up and down the stairs.
Clearly we're wrong -however Loki is on the balcony "Camping" - so maybe he's napping as well as people watching. Whenever Loki barks a lot - we tell him to go camping on the balcony - just so he gets to sniff the air, be nosy and have the chance to calm down. It sounds terribly rude I'm sure - but it sounds better than "Go take a hike". Ha.
I finished the novel by Jodi Picoult, "Handle With Care" - truly wonderful. A bit of a heart wretcher and I definitely cried during a few spots.
I'm going to start reading "Nineteen Minutes" also by J. Picoult. I'm very excited as I think I may have found a new author I am thoroughly enjoying to read. I may even go downtown tomorrow (weather permitting - who likes walking in the rain anyways?) to hunt around for some more of her novels and see about getting the nerve to ask a library staff member to help me find "Needle felting" books.
Anyways - I am craving something hearty and hot - so I'm thinking of making some chicken soup with potatos, carrots, herbs and left over chicken bones from last night's meal. So domesticated I know.
Oh and I forgot to mention this AGES ago - but we haven't seen a single pot hole here in town!! It's weird - but good for the bikers and the tires!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Less than 3 months until Christmas!
Ah yes - I'm into my regular count-down (month-to-month not day-to day until December hits) until Christmas.
It's going to be different for sure- as we're not in Canada, I doubt they have turkey here (the oven size - remember?) - or atleast not roast a whole turkey.....and well we'll have a baby Riggs by then.
Terribly exciting.
Anyways - nearly done my book (sorry this should all be in my other blog...but the internet is slow and rickety - so I'll take what I can get!) I'm reading and it's a tear-jerker/jaw-dropper lovely novel. Then probably back to needle felting I go.
I was reading earlier and concerned about the noise level (which Tim reminded me - is the first time there was a party in the building since we moved in being a month ago on the 22nd) - but as I was lying in bed reading with the dogs, where the sound wasn't nearly as loud - thank Heavens - the noise suddenly disappeared.
Maybe I was too absorbed in my book and the comfort of my two boys snuggled around me to notice - but the Boom Boom Pow and The Doors stopped playing and the voices weren't rowdy. It was perfectly silent.
I crept into the living room - expecting to hear an explosion of a party - but there was nothing. I thought I was going crazy!
The clock said 12:05am. They were done partying on a Saturday night by midnight. WOW. I figure the baby will have awful sleeping patterns and this may work in our benefit if the partying is done by 12!
I'm so not used to this...maybe they're all passed out or maybe they all went downtown to the other bars...or maybe this is the norm?
It's going to be different for sure- as we're not in Canada, I doubt they have turkey here (the oven size - remember?) - or atleast not roast a whole turkey.....and well we'll have a baby Riggs by then.
Terribly exciting.
Anyways - nearly done my book (sorry this should all be in my other blog...but the internet is slow and rickety - so I'll take what I can get!) I'm reading and it's a tear-jerker/jaw-dropper lovely novel. Then probably back to needle felting I go.
I was reading earlier and concerned about the noise level (which Tim reminded me - is the first time there was a party in the building since we moved in being a month ago on the 22nd) - but as I was lying in bed reading with the dogs, where the sound wasn't nearly as loud - thank Heavens - the noise suddenly disappeared.
Maybe I was too absorbed in my book and the comfort of my two boys snuggled around me to notice - but the Boom Boom Pow and The Doors stopped playing and the voices weren't rowdy. It was perfectly silent.
I crept into the living room - expecting to hear an explosion of a party - but there was nothing. I thought I was going crazy!
The clock said 12:05am. They were done partying on a Saturday night by midnight. WOW. I figure the baby will have awful sleeping patterns and this may work in our benefit if the partying is done by 12!
I'm so not used to this...maybe they're all passed out or maybe they all went downtown to the other bars...or maybe this is the norm?
Apparently It's Not All Heavy Metal
It's 11:03pm - I was lying in bed with the dogs reading (as sitting on the couch causes breathing difficulties - preggo ladies and moms - I know that YOU know what I'm talkin' about) a wonderful novel by Jodi Picoult called "Handle With Care". I think it's fairly new - dated 2009 on the front cover.
Anyways - to keep it brief - it's about a family who has a child that is diagnosed with OI (osteogenesis imperfecta) aka Brittle Bone Disease. It's a very heart wretching story about having to handle your child with care in fear of a broken bone or a fracture with every breath she takes. And then on top of that trying to get a claim and sue the doctor that also happens to be the mother's best friend. And so on and so on.
Anyways - my internet was down earlier - so I figured it'd be a good time to give my eyes a break. I have been out here for 5 minutes and am listening to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. It's a constant stop and play and lots of loud chatter/thumping from the apartment beside(?) us. I am now more positive that they're beside us as they're out on the balcony.
The girl that told us about this place told us it was so quiet here that she didn't even know she had neighbours. Considering this is the first I have really heard my neighbours after living here for almost a month - I'm impressed.
However - I hope this isn't a regular occurrence - especially with the dark and gloominess of November coming - oh and a baby on top of that.
Rent is so decently priced and the flat is just what we need - I don't want to move or have to because of some partying going on next door.
And no - we don't have a landlord. The person we are renting from actually owns this flat and we pay her directly through monthly payments.
Hopefully it's quieter in the bedroom.
Clearly - not all Fins are into Heavy Metal.
Anyways - to keep it brief - it's about a family who has a child that is diagnosed with OI (osteogenesis imperfecta) aka Brittle Bone Disease. It's a very heart wretching story about having to handle your child with care in fear of a broken bone or a fracture with every breath she takes. And then on top of that trying to get a claim and sue the doctor that also happens to be the mother's best friend. And so on and so on.
Anyways - my internet was down earlier - so I figured it'd be a good time to give my eyes a break. I have been out here for 5 minutes and am listening to "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. It's a constant stop and play and lots of loud chatter/thumping from the apartment beside(?) us. I am now more positive that they're beside us as they're out on the balcony.
The girl that told us about this place told us it was so quiet here that she didn't even know she had neighbours. Considering this is the first I have really heard my neighbours after living here for almost a month - I'm impressed.
However - I hope this isn't a regular occurrence - especially with the dark and gloominess of November coming - oh and a baby on top of that.
Rent is so decently priced and the flat is just what we need - I don't want to move or have to because of some partying going on next door.
And no - we don't have a landlord. The person we are renting from actually owns this flat and we pay her directly through monthly payments.
Hopefully it's quieter in the bedroom.
Clearly - not all Fins are into Heavy Metal.
Kela Maternity Package
So a friend I made who lives in Espoo (not pronounced "Es-pooh" but more like "Es-po" - a little ways outside of Helsinki but not anywhere near me - met online in the Felting Forum I'm part of), commented on one of my earlier posts about my bitchings of Braxton Hicks and pregnancy...provided me a link that I think is VERY interesting.
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english.nsf/NET/190207141935HL
As well they have a photo of everything included in the "2009" package and update this every year I guess.
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english.nsf/NET/180408150632HS
I am so very sad to read that I do not qualify for this as I haven't been here for 154 days(22 weeks) of the pregnancy - nor did I have my 4 month appointment here in Finland.
Ah well.
The package as you can see when you look at the links is amazing!
From condoms and breast pads, to cloth diapers to enough clothing for a week! It's crazy. And would've saved us a lot of money.
Ah well. And yes you read correctly a box being used as a crib (until you get a real one set up I guess).
Tim's laughing at me/smirking at me because I swore upside down/inside out that I won't have another child until 3-5 years from now because A) I'll need time to recover hahaha and (B) because I don't want the kids to be too close together in age. I just find that everybody I know who has a sibling within 1-2 years hates each others guts up until they move out. That's just too much drama for me!
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english.nsf/NET/190207141935HL
As well they have a photo of everything included in the "2009" package and update this every year I guess.
http://www.kela.fi/in/internet/english.nsf/NET/180408150632HS
I am so very sad to read that I do not qualify for this as I haven't been here for 154 days(22 weeks) of the pregnancy - nor did I have my 4 month appointment here in Finland.
Ah well.
The package as you can see when you look at the links is amazing!
From condoms and breast pads, to cloth diapers to enough clothing for a week! It's crazy. And would've saved us a lot of money.
Ah well. And yes you read correctly a box being used as a crib (until you get a real one set up I guess).
Tim's laughing at me/smirking at me because I swore upside down/inside out that I won't have another child until 3-5 years from now because A) I'll need time to recover hahaha and (B) because I don't want the kids to be too close together in age. I just find that everybody I know who has a sibling within 1-2 years hates each others guts up until they move out. That's just too much drama for me!
Things I miss about Canada (In no particular order)
**Please note - these are not complaints - these are just things for me to blab about as everybody in Canada is still asleep. I also call it procrastination before grocery shopping.
*Wal-Mart - specifically the 24 hour one in Dartmouth Crossing
*Dollarama
*Sushi specifically maki rolls and agadashi tofu (Doraku is the best with Sarah)
*pot stickers (pan fried dumplings), wonton soup, egg rolls (not that I ate them much) and hot and sour soup
*liquid flea medication (we have yet to find the vet's office)
*Friends/family/cats
*Wing nights (not that I went on many)
*Cheap bus fare and bus passes/tickets at reasonable prices
*Driving
*Having a job/my own income (hence the business approach)
*No ticks
*A dryer (I wish I had one for some of my felting projects - clothes don't really matter)
*Great Wall Restaurant with dim sum
*Canadian Plug outlets (my Gameboy Advance won't charge in the converter we're using for some reason - hence the downloaded games)
*Lamb (not very common/popular here)
*a BBQ (we could have one on the bottom ground outside - the balcony is too small to hold one for safety purposes)
*a backyard for the dogs to go out and do their business without trekking 3 floors while pregnant to do so (love the apartment so this isn't a huge complaint at all!)
*an Asian grocery store
*Timbits - why I don't know as I used to work at Tim Hortons and no longer eat their baked goods. But occasionally a timbit was delicious.
*off-leash dog zones/parks
*Michael's art store
*My scrap booking goodies which are all locked up in storage (I don't want to get into scrap booking again as of now because it's so expensive for one and a lot to lug around if we move/when we move back to Canada)
*My art stuff from back home in general I guess - the painting of ceramic pigs, the card making and so forth. Although I am having an absolute ball with needle felting.
*I never thought I'd say this - but the crazy calls from customers. The ones that hate your guts and think you run the bank because they dial a 1-800 # and the ones that praise you like you're the next best thing to sliced bread.
*Harvey's burgers. Don't get me wrong Grilli 21 kicks butt as does Hesburger - however being able to say in English - NO cheese and extra(x3) pickles would be nice. Something I may have to learn in Finnish when I start a course.
*My rubber boots - I packed them away in storage OR they're in the car.
*The crazy gossip fests with friends and colleagues over tea or between calls or on lunch breaks in the lounge!
*English radio stations (not that I've listened to the radio on my phone yet - so there may still be hope)
*All my cooking/baking utensils and equipment that I left behind or sold.
*My coffee table I got for $50 from a friend that is large and square and opens up like a chest on both sides.
*My DVD collections and books (Twilight, Little House on the Prairie and Harry Potter etc.)
*My food processor - it chopped, sliced and diced with a push of a button. And I made wicked guacamole - none of this "guacamoledippi" stuff that you get in the store that has an expiry date at least 6 months from purchase.
*A kettle for my husband. Who presently uses our 3 Litre pot to boil water - which is fine - unless I need it for making supper. Which is at least 3x a week.
*My Bubba. Bubba is the cab driver that I begged to have when coming home from work. He's big and round and absolutely a doll. He told me a bit about Finland and called me "Mama". Sure he called every body that - but nonetheless - he always asked about Tim and my dogs and made sure to wave to him if he saw him at the bank parking lot drop off spot. And no I don't know his real name.
*Seeing people I know downtown or at the malls. And all of my friends babies - thank goodness for Face book.
*Driving to Westville - because that guaranteed me Ming's (or Dragon Bowl), Wendy's, Walmart and a nap!!
*Rex - my friend's dog who we often watched or took with us to New Glasgow or the beach and watching him swim was a riot. Along with the fact that he has such a big name for a little body. His breath - I don't miss. Everything else - is okay.
*Washing machines that finished a load of clothing in a timely manner - aka anything under 30 minutes...45 even.
*English labels at the stores, and in the advertisements and flyers that get shoved in our mail slot at 6:30am on a Saturday morning.
*Global Pet Foods
*100 ml sized tooth paste tubes. Here the Sensodyne is in 75 ml - which does make a difference!
*The shared time zones - this way I was able to converse with people more frequently.
*Public Gardens (yes there are several parks and beautiful scenery here) - however I forgot my camera the last time I went and missed a bunch of beautiful flowers that had bloomed.
*A regular double-sized bed - in which I didn't fear falling off of it and had a bit more space.
*My medical benefits and a brand new inhaler...haven't figured out how medical works here yet.
*Plastic chopsticks - have yet to really shop for them - so we have bamboo ones that are slowly splintering...almost got one in the lip the other night!
*The Bulk Barn and their Wednesday discount days (10% off for students and seniors)
*Starbucks frappucinos or iced tea/lemonade...they were expensive as heck but a nice treat.
That's it for now I suppose - I'm sure a Part 2 will come around later.
*Wal-Mart - specifically the 24 hour one in Dartmouth Crossing
*Dollarama
*Sushi specifically maki rolls and agadashi tofu (Doraku is the best with Sarah)
*pot stickers (pan fried dumplings), wonton soup, egg rolls (not that I ate them much) and hot and sour soup
*liquid flea medication (we have yet to find the vet's office)
*Friends/family/cats
*Wing nights (not that I went on many)
*Cheap bus fare and bus passes/tickets at reasonable prices
*Driving
*Having a job/my own income (hence the business approach)
*No ticks
*A dryer (I wish I had one for some of my felting projects - clothes don't really matter)
*Great Wall Restaurant with dim sum
*Canadian Plug outlets (my Gameboy Advance won't charge in the converter we're using for some reason - hence the downloaded games)
*Lamb (not very common/popular here)
*a BBQ (we could have one on the bottom ground outside - the balcony is too small to hold one for safety purposes)
*a backyard for the dogs to go out and do their business without trekking 3 floors while pregnant to do so (love the apartment so this isn't a huge complaint at all!)
*an Asian grocery store
*Timbits - why I don't know as I used to work at Tim Hortons and no longer eat their baked goods. But occasionally a timbit was delicious.
*off-leash dog zones/parks
*Michael's art store
*My scrap booking goodies which are all locked up in storage (I don't want to get into scrap booking again as of now because it's so expensive for one and a lot to lug around if we move/when we move back to Canada)
*My art stuff from back home in general I guess - the painting of ceramic pigs, the card making and so forth. Although I am having an absolute ball with needle felting.
*I never thought I'd say this - but the crazy calls from customers. The ones that hate your guts and think you run the bank because they dial a 1-800 # and the ones that praise you like you're the next best thing to sliced bread.
*Harvey's burgers. Don't get me wrong Grilli 21 kicks butt as does Hesburger - however being able to say in English - NO cheese and extra(x3) pickles would be nice. Something I may have to learn in Finnish when I start a course.
*My rubber boots - I packed them away in storage OR they're in the car.
*The crazy gossip fests with friends and colleagues over tea or between calls or on lunch breaks in the lounge!
*English radio stations (not that I've listened to the radio on my phone yet - so there may still be hope)
*All my cooking/baking utensils and equipment that I left behind or sold.
*My coffee table I got for $50 from a friend that is large and square and opens up like a chest on both sides.
*My DVD collections and books (Twilight, Little House on the Prairie and Harry Potter etc.)
*My food processor - it chopped, sliced and diced with a push of a button. And I made wicked guacamole - none of this "guacamoledippi" stuff that you get in the store that has an expiry date at least 6 months from purchase.
*A kettle for my husband. Who presently uses our 3 Litre pot to boil water - which is fine - unless I need it for making supper. Which is at least 3x a week.
*My Bubba. Bubba is the cab driver that I begged to have when coming home from work. He's big and round and absolutely a doll. He told me a bit about Finland and called me "Mama". Sure he called every body that - but nonetheless - he always asked about Tim and my dogs and made sure to wave to him if he saw him at the bank parking lot drop off spot. And no I don't know his real name.
*Seeing people I know downtown or at the malls. And all of my friends babies - thank goodness for Face book.
*Driving to Westville - because that guaranteed me Ming's (or Dragon Bowl), Wendy's, Walmart and a nap!!
*Rex - my friend's dog who we often watched or took with us to New Glasgow or the beach and watching him swim was a riot. Along with the fact that he has such a big name for a little body. His breath - I don't miss. Everything else - is okay.
*Washing machines that finished a load of clothing in a timely manner - aka anything under 30 minutes...45 even.
*English labels at the stores, and in the advertisements and flyers that get shoved in our mail slot at 6:30am on a Saturday morning.
*Global Pet Foods
*100 ml sized tooth paste tubes. Here the Sensodyne is in 75 ml - which does make a difference!
*The shared time zones - this way I was able to converse with people more frequently.
*Public Gardens (yes there are several parks and beautiful scenery here) - however I forgot my camera the last time I went and missed a bunch of beautiful flowers that had bloomed.
*A regular double-sized bed - in which I didn't fear falling off of it and had a bit more space.
*My medical benefits and a brand new inhaler...haven't figured out how medical works here yet.
*Plastic chopsticks - have yet to really shop for them - so we have bamboo ones that are slowly splintering...almost got one in the lip the other night!
*The Bulk Barn and their Wednesday discount days (10% off for students and seniors)
*Starbucks frappucinos or iced tea/lemonade...they were expensive as heck but a nice treat.
That's it for now I suppose - I'm sure a Part 2 will come around later.
Friday, September 25, 2009
So much to blog! Cell phone, Kela and Library Card!
We received our Security ID#s (aka Personal Identification Codes) today - wahoo.
As I mentioned before - Tim and I have unique numbers according to our DOB and some randomly generated stuff added on the end. As well beneath it, it says ALIVE.
Ok - so we went downtown and I stated a cell phone stop would be wise first as we'll probably have forms to fill out that will request a phone number (which we did) - and it was great.
The cell phone company is DNA. They're pretty hip and they have lime green shirts and ties they have to wear....it's pretty neat. Anyways - the guy we got to help us spoke decent enough English that we could get what we wanted.
Simple phone, cheap phone, and text messaging and a cheap plan. BINGO. We opted out of a 2 year contract and went with a 1 year contract that automatically goes month-to-month after the 1 year is completed. As well a one year contract gave us 14% off our calls on the weekends.
As well there's this code you can punch in before dialing a Canadian number - and it only costs 4 Euro Cents a minute!! However that is the present special now - it can fluctuate in pricing the guy said. He kindly gave us the website so we can watch the pricing... it's similar to YAK! or any of those other programs where you dial a # (it all goes on your regular phone bill) and then dial the # of the person you wish to speak with....
Oh and here's the best part. It's cheaper to text someone in Canada (18 Euro Cents/text) than it is to text someone in Finland (varies with plan). HAAHAHA.
The plan we picked was 66 Euro cents /month for a monthly fee (Finland is pretty much the cheapest in all of Europe we've been told) and then 67 cents/minute or per text. So even if we sent 100 text messages - a monthly bill would still be under 10 Euros!
It was just wonderful to be able to speak to a salesman who wanted our business but was not pushy about 2 year contracts (it costs 100 Euros/line to cancel your contract here on top of whatever is owing at the time) or getting us to pick expensive phones. We ended up buying the phones outright (under 60 Euros each!!) and were very pleased with the services we got.
So it's a Nokia 2330 Classic - in case you're the type that is curious. Short form?
Camera, blue-tooth, fm radio and not a flip phone. But it's simple enough to use and has Brain Challenge Vol. 2 and some other neat games already installed on it. AND it's in English. Wahoo - just not the booklets - but that's okay - my friend found one online for me.
Alright - so we went to the Kela - which is a service for coverage for people of Finland and those who have residence Permits (aka us). She looked over our documents and we're good to go to use the public services (aka I can pop at anytime with peace of mind - as opposed to this morning) and the Kela is more for private health care. Not quite sure how medications fit in with this - but once our application is approved (can take up to 4 weeks) then we're good to go! Kela runs a lot of things besides medical/dental care. They're also the social services (from what I understand) for those who are on maternity/paternity leaves, un-employment, job search, private health care(s) etc. I confess I nearly passed out when she said we'll get the information in 4 weeks - as that would mean I'd have 2 weeks to meet a mid-wife etc. But she confirmed because we have our Personal ID #s - we're okay to go and have the baby across the street and the clinic is up a little hill from our building. I can actually see their parking lot from the living room window - where I am sitting.
OKAY - so the most exciting part of my day was going to the library!! I stopped going to the library when I was in Halifax because of location and trying to save on gas and probably pure laziness. So I got into buying books again (thank goodness for a Chapters discount card).
But now that I'm in Finland - I figured to keep myself on top of things - I should get a library card. The library is downtown on a corner and has a cafe inside.
It's huge - I would guess the size of your above-average Chapters or Superstore with 3 floors.
Tim and I walked in just to take a peek (before he headed to school to get some admin stuff done) and we had our jaws down to the floors.
It's 3 floors, spacious, has bathrooms (or WC) on every floor and the English selection of novels really wasn't that bad!! (I was too tired to find some books on needle felting - maybe on Monday...) It's really like a mall in all honesty.
All I needed was my Passport and I got a library card.
When you've picked up your items you want to scan and check out - you can do it yourself or get a staff member to assist you. It's pretty neat actually.
There's a touch screen and you insert your card into a slot. While the card is in there (the touch screen gives you choice of English, Swedish or Finnish) you place your book barcode up and when it is done scanning then you'll see the book information on the bottom of the screen. Once you're done - remove your card and your receipt will print out with the date it's due and the time/day you checked it out.
I thought this was neat - and at first I was scanning the book like at the grocery store...just running it under and removing my card as soon as I inserted it. Thankfully the same lady that set me up with the card was able to assist me. Yep - I will now take this opportunity to blame it on the pregnancy brain AND the hidden blonde roots.
Now the loan periods are as follow:
Books/mags/musical notes/recordings/language courses/cd-roms = 4 weeks
Express loans = 2 weeks
Videos/dvds = 1 week
You can renew an item up to 5x as long as nobody else is on a waiting list for it and you can go into the library to renew it, phoning the library or on the internet with a special password.
Alright - that's enough for now - sorry for the blabbing but I am very excited!
As I mentioned before - Tim and I have unique numbers according to our DOB and some randomly generated stuff added on the end. As well beneath it, it says ALIVE.
Ok - so we went downtown and I stated a cell phone stop would be wise first as we'll probably have forms to fill out that will request a phone number (which we did) - and it was great.
The cell phone company is DNA. They're pretty hip and they have lime green shirts and ties they have to wear....it's pretty neat. Anyways - the guy we got to help us spoke decent enough English that we could get what we wanted.
Simple phone, cheap phone, and text messaging and a cheap plan. BINGO. We opted out of a 2 year contract and went with a 1 year contract that automatically goes month-to-month after the 1 year is completed. As well a one year contract gave us 14% off our calls on the weekends.
As well there's this code you can punch in before dialing a Canadian number - and it only costs 4 Euro Cents a minute!! However that is the present special now - it can fluctuate in pricing the guy said. He kindly gave us the website so we can watch the pricing... it's similar to YAK! or any of those other programs where you dial a # (it all goes on your regular phone bill) and then dial the # of the person you wish to speak with....
Oh and here's the best part. It's cheaper to text someone in Canada (18 Euro Cents/text) than it is to text someone in Finland (varies with plan). HAAHAHA.
The plan we picked was 66 Euro cents /month for a monthly fee (Finland is pretty much the cheapest in all of Europe we've been told) and then 67 cents/minute or per text. So even if we sent 100 text messages - a monthly bill would still be under 10 Euros!
It was just wonderful to be able to speak to a salesman who wanted our business but was not pushy about 2 year contracts (it costs 100 Euros/line to cancel your contract here on top of whatever is owing at the time) or getting us to pick expensive phones. We ended up buying the phones outright (under 60 Euros each!!) and were very pleased with the services we got.
So it's a Nokia 2330 Classic - in case you're the type that is curious. Short form?
Camera, blue-tooth, fm radio and not a flip phone. But it's simple enough to use and has Brain Challenge Vol. 2 and some other neat games already installed on it. AND it's in English. Wahoo - just not the booklets - but that's okay - my friend found one online for me.
Alright - so we went to the Kela - which is a service for coverage for people of Finland and those who have residence Permits (aka us). She looked over our documents and we're good to go to use the public services (aka I can pop at anytime with peace of mind - as opposed to this morning) and the Kela is more for private health care. Not quite sure how medications fit in with this - but once our application is approved (can take up to 4 weeks) then we're good to go! Kela runs a lot of things besides medical/dental care. They're also the social services (from what I understand) for those who are on maternity/paternity leaves, un-employment, job search, private health care(s) etc. I confess I nearly passed out when she said we'll get the information in 4 weeks - as that would mean I'd have 2 weeks to meet a mid-wife etc. But she confirmed because we have our Personal ID #s - we're okay to go and have the baby across the street and the clinic is up a little hill from our building. I can actually see their parking lot from the living room window - where I am sitting.
OKAY - so the most exciting part of my day was going to the library!! I stopped going to the library when I was in Halifax because of location and trying to save on gas and probably pure laziness. So I got into buying books again (thank goodness for a Chapters discount card).
But now that I'm in Finland - I figured to keep myself on top of things - I should get a library card. The library is downtown on a corner and has a cafe inside.
It's huge - I would guess the size of your above-average Chapters or Superstore with 3 floors.
Tim and I walked in just to take a peek (before he headed to school to get some admin stuff done) and we had our jaws down to the floors.
It's 3 floors, spacious, has bathrooms (or WC) on every floor and the English selection of novels really wasn't that bad!! (I was too tired to find some books on needle felting - maybe on Monday...) It's really like a mall in all honesty.
All I needed was my Passport and I got a library card.
When you've picked up your items you want to scan and check out - you can do it yourself or get a staff member to assist you. It's pretty neat actually.
There's a touch screen and you insert your card into a slot. While the card is in there (the touch screen gives you choice of English, Swedish or Finnish) you place your book barcode up and when it is done scanning then you'll see the book information on the bottom of the screen. Once you're done - remove your card and your receipt will print out with the date it's due and the time/day you checked it out.
I thought this was neat - and at first I was scanning the book like at the grocery store...just running it under and removing my card as soon as I inserted it. Thankfully the same lady that set me up with the card was able to assist me. Yep - I will now take this opportunity to blame it on the pregnancy brain AND the hidden blonde roots.
Now the loan periods are as follow:
Books/mags/musical notes/recordings/language courses/cd-roms = 4 weeks
Express loans = 2 weeks
Videos/dvds = 1 week
You can renew an item up to 5x as long as nobody else is on a waiting list for it and you can go into the library to renew it, phoning the library or on the internet with a special password.
Alright - that's enough for now - sorry for the blabbing but I am very excited!
Dogzilla, spotted mushrooms and our Security ID #s
I forgot to mention in previous posts that Loki's nick name used to be "The Lokinator" as he destroyed everything and anything that got in his way and made him curious (i.e. erasers, mechanical lead pencils, pencil leads, inhalers and medication etc.).
He has since shed that nick name and style of living and has moved up in the world to "Dogzilla". He hates his halti - but knows that he cannot leave home without it on (as he's quite strong) and when we go across the street to the path and bits of woods for a bathroom break (day or night) - he feels the need to stomp around all the tall grass and some of the flowers are on thick stalks...and you can see those crashing down as well. While stomping he'll occasionally bite down on some grass/flowers and drive his muzzle into the ground/against branches to remove the halti. He now responds to "NO Dogzilla!" He'll put the breaks on and simply stare...instead of doing a #2.
The spotted mushroom that I have a photo of in Facebook has now flattened out a bit - I will try to remember to take a photo of it when I go outside later on.
We finally got our security numbers!!! We're still listed as "Unknown" for a Marital status - but that's okay. Underneath our unique numbers (derived from date of birth and some other mix of random figures) - it says "ALIVE".
Hilarious - I think.
So now it's time for me to cook up some grub and get ready so we can mosy on downtown and get things sorted out (i.e. mid-wife, medicine? and a cell phone).
Oh and in other news before I forget...big congratulations to my colleague April who had her twin boys some time this past week. I am so very happy everything seemed to have gone well - however I am now presently terrified at having my baby too early!
You see - April and I were only a couple days apart in our due date.
Mind you - she had twins - so maybe that's why she went early.
Either way - I'm good to go now, now that I have my security #!!! No more stressing out pour moi.
He has since shed that nick name and style of living and has moved up in the world to "Dogzilla". He hates his halti - but knows that he cannot leave home without it on (as he's quite strong) and when we go across the street to the path and bits of woods for a bathroom break (day or night) - he feels the need to stomp around all the tall grass and some of the flowers are on thick stalks...and you can see those crashing down as well. While stomping he'll occasionally bite down on some grass/flowers and drive his muzzle into the ground/against branches to remove the halti. He now responds to "NO Dogzilla!" He'll put the breaks on and simply stare...instead of doing a #2.
The spotted mushroom that I have a photo of in Facebook has now flattened out a bit - I will try to remember to take a photo of it when I go outside later on.
We finally got our security numbers!!! We're still listed as "Unknown" for a Marital status - but that's okay. Underneath our unique numbers (derived from date of birth and some other mix of random figures) - it says "ALIVE".
Hilarious - I think.
So now it's time for me to cook up some grub and get ready so we can mosy on downtown and get things sorted out (i.e. mid-wife, medicine? and a cell phone).
Oh and in other news before I forget...big congratulations to my colleague April who had her twin boys some time this past week. I am so very happy everything seemed to have gone well - however I am now presently terrified at having my baby too early!
You see - April and I were only a couple days apart in our due date.
Mind you - she had twins - so maybe that's why she went early.
Either way - I'm good to go now, now that I have my security #!!! No more stressing out pour moi.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Mushrooms, hip pains and Pricing!
A red mushroom with spots - very Marioland-ish no?
In less than an hour I had about 5 comments on this mushroom that is presently residing across the street from our flat...there's a woodsy area there and that's where we take the dogs for the bathroom breaks. It's pretty neat and must've grown overnight! I didn't take the dogs out this morning (see below about the hip pain)...but it's pretty neat. It was worth another trip back up and down and back up the stairs to grab my camera and take some night shots of it.
So this morning sucked big time. I mean overall - it was a great night! I had a dream that I had an interesting conversation with Brad Pitt at the playground, Barrack Obama was scared of a snake and nearly yanked this kid's arm out of his socket...and that I was going to a party in Cole Harbour but everybody kept telling me to take the 10 Westphal bus. *Note - the 10 doesn't go to Cole Harbour.
Anyways - the suck part - was that I woke up with super bad pains in my hips. I tried cracking them, switching sides, lying on my back - nada.
I eventually walked around a bit and it only hurt to lie down or sit for too long of a period of time. Hopefully it's gone tonight.
Now - pricing!
I am going to be chopping prices down on ALL of my items I'm making - because I found out last night (as I was packaging my first order to be shipped to Canada) that as long as a package is less than 500 grams - I can mail it regular post!! With a single stamp! WICKED.
Keep an eye out....I should have it figured out shortly.
In less than an hour I had about 5 comments on this mushroom that is presently residing across the street from our flat...there's a woodsy area there and that's where we take the dogs for the bathroom breaks. It's pretty neat and must've grown overnight! I didn't take the dogs out this morning (see below about the hip pain)...but it's pretty neat. It was worth another trip back up and down and back up the stairs to grab my camera and take some night shots of it.
So this morning sucked big time. I mean overall - it was a great night! I had a dream that I had an interesting conversation with Brad Pitt at the playground, Barrack Obama was scared of a snake and nearly yanked this kid's arm out of his socket...and that I was going to a party in Cole Harbour but everybody kept telling me to take the 10 Westphal bus. *Note - the 10 doesn't go to Cole Harbour.
Anyways - the suck part - was that I woke up with super bad pains in my hips. I tried cracking them, switching sides, lying on my back - nada.
I eventually walked around a bit and it only hurt to lie down or sit for too long of a period of time. Hopefully it's gone tonight.
Now - pricing!
I am going to be chopping prices down on ALL of my items I'm making - because I found out last night (as I was packaging my first order to be shipped to Canada) that as long as a package is less than 500 grams - I can mail it regular post!! With a single stamp! WICKED.
Keep an eye out....I should have it figured out shortly.
Monday, September 21, 2009
WAHOO!!!!! Pet store!
Alright - so at this rate I seriously think the baby should come into the world if I should so happen to SNEEZE - I'm doing that much walking. I did about 3 hours yesterday and approximately 4-5 hours today!! Only stopping to pick up some items and to have a Hesburger combo.
I'm so excited at my findings...here we go.
Picked up envelopes and such for my crafts - a little upset that the book store across the street from the craft/multi-purpose store is cheaper...now I know for sure and won't go in Tiimari (craft shop) any more. Lesson learned.
Moving on - walked around downtown and stopped at some various stores that I've never been in and really my list was supposed to be only these items: Rubbing alcohol (still can't find - mind you I'm chicken to step in the pharmacy for some reason) and card stock and some envelopes for shipping.
I went to the Post Office to see what kinds of envelopes they had - and it was all similar in pricing and whatnot and I found the markers by Staedtler - they're multi colored and there's 10 of them in a package. I am SOOOOOOOO excited!! As some of mine are dying. BUT! I held off and didn't buy the package - it was almost 13 Euros (not too bad considering Canada charges $25?? Thank goodness for 50% off coupons). As well - they sell the markers individually too! Once again - held off on the black one - even though mine is crying it's so dead from over-usage - mostly because I couldn't tell how much it was. There was a sign but it didn't really mean much to me in Finnish. And one of the prices was almost 4 Euros for a pen - knowing my luck I'd get to the cashier and it would be the one I need.
BUT! Note to self - I now know where to buy my pens.
Also in the Post Office - it's in a little strip mall...a very small strip mall with an electronic store, a hair shop and A PET STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They sell items for riding horses, but what drew me to the store was a sign for dog food. So I figure - if they sell dog food - they must sell flea/tick medication. They don't. BUT! They sell flea collars - so hopefully they fit - the girl showed me a collar to compare size and it was huge. Definitely big enough for my dogs. So I went with that route!! When I asked about flea/tick shampoo - the girl pointed me to a stand of shampoos - I'm thinking great! It's rinse free and I grab a bottle...Thankfully I looked for the price because it was 33.50 Euros for a bottle of shampoo. I NEARLY DIED. Definitely didn't buy it as I could visualize my husband's threatening glare.
The selection for collars and harnesses, muzzles and leashes was extraordinary!! We don't muzzle ours - but the selection was crazy. I took a look at the toys and there were toys there for dogs who don't chew much and there were these hard plastic toys to challenge the dog's mind...you know you put treats in the hole and the dog has to figure out how to get the treats out. Well these ones didn't have any sort of grip for the dog to grab onto - which is good - because Loki has literally destroyed practically ever "tough" toy out there.
Santa may have to make a pit stop at this shop for the pooches this December.
However - for 2 Euros a pop - there were bones (various sizes) and I figure for 2 Euros and an hour or more of peace and quiet - it's so worth it.
Besides dog things - they sold fishes, stuff for gerbils/hamsters, cats and horses!
I'm so excited - anybody that knows me well enough - knows that I love walking around pet stores and seeing what they have.
I found another yarn store of sorts - but it closes fairly early. So I will stick to the store called Popelli - the lady there is great and speaks English so it works well for both of us. And her prices are quite reasonable for wool.
Alright - supper time - if I can get this to post eventually!
I'm so excited at my findings...here we go.
Picked up envelopes and such for my crafts - a little upset that the book store across the street from the craft/multi-purpose store is cheaper...now I know for sure and won't go in Tiimari (craft shop) any more. Lesson learned.
Moving on - walked around downtown and stopped at some various stores that I've never been in and really my list was supposed to be only these items: Rubbing alcohol (still can't find - mind you I'm chicken to step in the pharmacy for some reason) and card stock and some envelopes for shipping.
I went to the Post Office to see what kinds of envelopes they had - and it was all similar in pricing and whatnot and I found the markers by Staedtler - they're multi colored and there's 10 of them in a package. I am SOOOOOOOO excited!! As some of mine are dying. BUT! I held off and didn't buy the package - it was almost 13 Euros (not too bad considering Canada charges $25?? Thank goodness for 50% off coupons). As well - they sell the markers individually too! Once again - held off on the black one - even though mine is crying it's so dead from over-usage - mostly because I couldn't tell how much it was. There was a sign but it didn't really mean much to me in Finnish. And one of the prices was almost 4 Euros for a pen - knowing my luck I'd get to the cashier and it would be the one I need.
BUT! Note to self - I now know where to buy my pens.
Also in the Post Office - it's in a little strip mall...a very small strip mall with an electronic store, a hair shop and A PET STORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They sell items for riding horses, but what drew me to the store was a sign for dog food. So I figure - if they sell dog food - they must sell flea/tick medication. They don't. BUT! They sell flea collars - so hopefully they fit - the girl showed me a collar to compare size and it was huge. Definitely big enough for my dogs. So I went with that route!! When I asked about flea/tick shampoo - the girl pointed me to a stand of shampoos - I'm thinking great! It's rinse free and I grab a bottle...Thankfully I looked for the price because it was 33.50 Euros for a bottle of shampoo. I NEARLY DIED. Definitely didn't buy it as I could visualize my husband's threatening glare.
The selection for collars and harnesses, muzzles and leashes was extraordinary!! We don't muzzle ours - but the selection was crazy. I took a look at the toys and there were toys there for dogs who don't chew much and there were these hard plastic toys to challenge the dog's mind...you know you put treats in the hole and the dog has to figure out how to get the treats out. Well these ones didn't have any sort of grip for the dog to grab onto - which is good - because Loki has literally destroyed practically ever "tough" toy out there.
Santa may have to make a pit stop at this shop for the pooches this December.
However - for 2 Euros a pop - there were bones (various sizes) and I figure for 2 Euros and an hour or more of peace and quiet - it's so worth it.
Besides dog things - they sold fishes, stuff for gerbils/hamsters, cats and horses!
I'm so excited - anybody that knows me well enough - knows that I love walking around pet stores and seeing what they have.
I found another yarn store of sorts - but it closes fairly early. So I will stick to the store called Popelli - the lady there is great and speaks English so it works well for both of us. And her prices are quite reasonable for wool.
Alright - supper time - if I can get this to post eventually!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday shopping is done now...
'Tis the season for Sunday shopping to come to end - I found out the hard way.
Grocery stores are still open from 12-9pm (depending on location) and restaurants/bars are still open - but that's it. I decided to go downtown today to pick up some card stock and to try to find rubbing alcohol to clean up a tick bite Blue has from yesterday. No luck - however the weather was nice so it was pleasant enough to walk around. The only down-fall was the lower back pain I have been experiencing steadily for the past couple of days.
People stared at me as I walked around with Tim - I wore a short sleeved shirt, capris and sneakers. Most people were wearing coats, sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves. Hahaha.
I managed to skip an ice cream cone AND Hesburger AND Grilli 21. I'm impressed.
Depending on how the back is - I'll go downtown (again) and get things picked up. Wahoo.
I found a store that Tim described as "kind of like Wal-mart" beneath the post office....very exciting. Will definitely have venture that way.
On our way back home we walked through the pond area and I saw a bunch of sleeping ducks...decided to take a photo and one came over after I said hello to her and allowed me to take a few photos of her. Then she decided I must have food and that I owe her something for taking a few shots of her. So she followed us half ways around the pond...she was quite quick too and was a little peeved that we were so far ahead - she honked loudly once. Tim crouched down (while I filmed) and she came up within centimeters of his fingers to see empty hands. Then Little Miss Ducky was quite un-impressed. As we continued our trek home - I took one last look back to see if L.M. Ducky was still behind us - and saw a rainbow where the water fountain is in the pond. I am so happy and thrilled to finally be able to capture a rainbow - even if only partial - as they're very tricky to capture (personally). Oh and Little Miss Ducky decided to go for a swim and give us the cold wing.
I may upload the video on Youtube....we'll see.
Grocery stores are still open from 12-9pm (depending on location) and restaurants/bars are still open - but that's it. I decided to go downtown today to pick up some card stock and to try to find rubbing alcohol to clean up a tick bite Blue has from yesterday. No luck - however the weather was nice so it was pleasant enough to walk around. The only down-fall was the lower back pain I have been experiencing steadily for the past couple of days.
People stared at me as I walked around with Tim - I wore a short sleeved shirt, capris and sneakers. Most people were wearing coats, sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves. Hahaha.
I managed to skip an ice cream cone AND Hesburger AND Grilli 21. I'm impressed.
Depending on how the back is - I'll go downtown (again) and get things picked up. Wahoo.
I found a store that Tim described as "kind of like Wal-mart" beneath the post office....very exciting. Will definitely have venture that way.
On our way back home we walked through the pond area and I saw a bunch of sleeping ducks...decided to take a photo and one came over after I said hello to her and allowed me to take a few photos of her. Then she decided I must have food and that I owe her something for taking a few shots of her. So she followed us half ways around the pond...she was quite quick too and was a little peeved that we were so far ahead - she honked loudly once. Tim crouched down (while I filmed) and she came up within centimeters of his fingers to see empty hands. Then Little Miss Ducky was quite un-impressed. As we continued our trek home - I took one last look back to see if L.M. Ducky was still behind us - and saw a rainbow where the water fountain is in the pond. I am so happy and thrilled to finally be able to capture a rainbow - even if only partial - as they're very tricky to capture (personally). Oh and Little Miss Ducky decided to go for a swim and give us the cold wing.
I may upload the video on Youtube....we'll see.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
"My feet look like they belong to Shrek's cousin" - hilarious but sad.
Ok here it goes....
Last night I decided to try puting some Blistex lip balm (with a q-tip) on the cracks of my heels because I cannot find petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) anywhere.
I'm sitting on the toilet and rolling up my PJ pants and notice that the outside of my ankles are still NOT swollen but the tops of my feet and my inner ankles ARE.
Insert Major Break Down (Kate Gosselin style).
I called Tim urgently to come look at my feet - and he poked them and said, "yeah they look a little swollen but it's only temporary because you're pregnant".
Insert Bawl my head off (like a 5 year old who fell off the monkey bars at 6 feet high).
So Tim has no idea what I'm saying because I am purely wailing my head off saying stuff such as:
-"My feet are so swollen they're ugly" (not that I thought I had adorable feet - but they definitely had seen better days)
-"I have ugly feet" (repeatedly)
-"My feet look like they belong to Shrek's cousin" - where I got this - no idea.
-"My feet belong to a monster tv show"
-"My feet are so ugly ....I-I-I can't even LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK at them!" (by this point the snot was running, the tears were pouring out of my eyes and my face was beet red from crying)
Needless to say - I did not have a nap last night or the past few days and have been staying up until 2am and up by 9am. I cried myself to sleep with the dogs at my side like a little 5 year old.
Thankfully - the swelling has gone down - I'm thinking it's probably caused by me walking to the grocery store and back and taking the dogs out with Tim for their bathroom breaks....who knows.
Onto other sad news - my kitty Gremlin (all my cats are at my mother-in-laws) who is the shyest of the bunch and slightly anti-social at first - has been up and about in the living room back home. This is very weird as she usually hides in the closet, basement, bathroom etc. After close examination of her- Carolyn (mother in law) noticed she was limping a bit on her hind paw and they found an abscess and took her to the vet to get it removed. She had to stay overnight and it's only 6:39am back in NS - so asking how she's doing via MSN is pointless.
Other than that - I haven't been learning too much about Finland - as I've been staying inside a lot, doing lots of cleaning ("nesting" - every man's favorite part of the pregnancy) and a lot of creative arts for up-coming Christmas gifts and so on.
Last night I decided to try puting some Blistex lip balm (with a q-tip) on the cracks of my heels because I cannot find petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) anywhere.
I'm sitting on the toilet and rolling up my PJ pants and notice that the outside of my ankles are still NOT swollen but the tops of my feet and my inner ankles ARE.
Insert Major Break Down (Kate Gosselin style).
I called Tim urgently to come look at my feet - and he poked them and said, "yeah they look a little swollen but it's only temporary because you're pregnant".
Insert Bawl my head off (like a 5 year old who fell off the monkey bars at 6 feet high).
So Tim has no idea what I'm saying because I am purely wailing my head off saying stuff such as:
-"My feet are so swollen they're ugly" (not that I thought I had adorable feet - but they definitely had seen better days)
-"I have ugly feet" (repeatedly)
-"My feet look like they belong to Shrek's cousin" - where I got this - no idea.
-"My feet belong to a monster tv show"
-"My feet are so ugly ....I-I-I can't even LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK at them!" (by this point the snot was running, the tears were pouring out of my eyes and my face was beet red from crying)
Needless to say - I did not have a nap last night or the past few days and have been staying up until 2am and up by 9am. I cried myself to sleep with the dogs at my side like a little 5 year old.
Thankfully - the swelling has gone down - I'm thinking it's probably caused by me walking to the grocery store and back and taking the dogs out with Tim for their bathroom breaks....who knows.
Onto other sad news - my kitty Gremlin (all my cats are at my mother-in-laws) who is the shyest of the bunch and slightly anti-social at first - has been up and about in the living room back home. This is very weird as she usually hides in the closet, basement, bathroom etc. After close examination of her- Carolyn (mother in law) noticed she was limping a bit on her hind paw and they found an abscess and took her to the vet to get it removed. She had to stay overnight and it's only 6:39am back in NS - so asking how she's doing via MSN is pointless.
Other than that - I haven't been learning too much about Finland - as I've been staying inside a lot, doing lots of cleaning ("nesting" - every man's favorite part of the pregnancy) and a lot of creative arts for up-coming Christmas gifts and so on.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Muffins, crochet and those damn Braxton Hicks
So today I wasn't feeling very perky and decided to have a nap. Tim stayed home today as it looked like it was going to rain (it eventually did while he was out with the dogs in the woods).
I then had a sudden urge to bake. I went ahead and made the cookie crust for the blueberry pie again - this time converting 400 degrees Fahrenheit into Celsius (it's 204.444 in case you're wondering) for my oven and once that was completed - I did the dishes and moved onto muffins.
I have no idea what possessed me to bake 2 dishes in one day...but I did it.
I'm still too full from fajitas to have a slice of the blueberry pie or a muffin.
Ah well - once 10-11pm rolls around - I'm usually starving and having cramps.
SPEAKING of cramps - what the heck? Why in the world would Mother Nature tease a woman in the fashion of fake contractions? Mine are very light and annoying - I know it "can always be worse" and probably is for other women and as you get further along in the pregnancy - but seriously!
Thankfully - I live across the street from the hospital.
Food is my friend (in decent portions) and my trusty bottle of water.
Onto other things - I've been crocheting a tonne of coasters for the up-coming holiday season....great Christmas presents and now I'm actually proud of them because they have shape and don't look like I closed my eyes and crocheted like mad. I got the beginning of the pattern from the slippers I was making Tim and then I did some double crochets a couple rounds and voila - finished.
Tim's been asking me for some as his coasters I made him before for his mug and tea pot are quite pathetic looking (although he won't admit it)...they were some of my earlier experiments with crochet - before I finally plunked my butt down to learn how to read patterns.
Oh and "Pepsi Max". God that stuff tastes weird. There's no sugar in it - and wow it tastes so "off". I'll definitely be drinking this stuff slowly.
I then had a sudden urge to bake. I went ahead and made the cookie crust for the blueberry pie again - this time converting 400 degrees Fahrenheit into Celsius (it's 204.444 in case you're wondering) for my oven and once that was completed - I did the dishes and moved onto muffins.
I have no idea what possessed me to bake 2 dishes in one day...but I did it.
I'm still too full from fajitas to have a slice of the blueberry pie or a muffin.
Ah well - once 10-11pm rolls around - I'm usually starving and having cramps.
SPEAKING of cramps - what the heck? Why in the world would Mother Nature tease a woman in the fashion of fake contractions? Mine are very light and annoying - I know it "can always be worse" and probably is for other women and as you get further along in the pregnancy - but seriously!
Thankfully - I live across the street from the hospital.
Food is my friend (in decent portions) and my trusty bottle of water.
Onto other things - I've been crocheting a tonne of coasters for the up-coming holiday season....great Christmas presents and now I'm actually proud of them because they have shape and don't look like I closed my eyes and crocheted like mad. I got the beginning of the pattern from the slippers I was making Tim and then I did some double crochets a couple rounds and voila - finished.
Tim's been asking me for some as his coasters I made him before for his mug and tea pot are quite pathetic looking (although he won't admit it)...they were some of my earlier experiments with crochet - before I finally plunked my butt down to learn how to read patterns.
Oh and "Pepsi Max". God that stuff tastes weird. There's no sugar in it - and wow it tastes so "off". I'll definitely be drinking this stuff slowly.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
At this rate - I'll be going into labour by the time I get a cell phone.
So we got everything straightened out - by everything - I mean we filled out forms to claim permanent residency here (where we plan on staying at least 2 years it's considered "permanent").
The lady reminded us again that we're not legally married here and that we have to take our marriage certificate and my birth certificate and get it stamped in Canada by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (hopefully they have an office in Halifax for my parents to do it) and then here by the Embassy of Finland. The marriage certificate is in Canada - my birth certificate is here...jeeze.
We're still getting our security ID #s however - it'll just take up to 2 weeks time. That means I'll have 6 weeks left of the pregnancy (give or take) and still no cell phone.
Now I'm hoping the kid's arrival will be late (but not too late that there's complications).
Oh and now - let's talk baby. Our marriage has to be legalized in Finland for the sake of the child's application to be put through smoothly. Yee haw.
I finally found nail polish remover (it was on sale - normally atleast 5 Euros a bottle), bobby pins (a pack of 23 for 1,45 Euros- I'm desperate), and the art store that I have been in once. It's been driving me crazy because Tim and I walked in and looked around and I left without buying anything (this was before I hit the needle-felting craze). Yet I couldn't remember the name of the store or the location unfortunately.
Today after filling out forms and having a delightful Hesburger combo - I explored on my own (may as well get my exercise while I am downtown - right?) and found the store. Which thankfully - sold magnets, pipe cleaners and foam. I plan on giving Fish! and his companion some legs, feet and a magnetic backing.
The wool was really expensive and plain looking.
So I ended up going to my new favourite store - Poppeli - and chatting with the girl there and found a couple small bags of wool that I liked.
My plan for tonight (depending on the internet connection of course (which I have since lost but am continuing to write for the sake of anything better to do presently) is to give Fish! and companion some legs and feet and make them into magnets and possibly start making some more magnets. And possibly finish a card - we'll see.
Well in North American news - Kanye West is finally apologizing...must be because the whisky's worn off. (He was seen with a full bottle that slowly dwindled to nothing throughout the night at the MTV VMAs).
What a jerk. I never liked him much to begin with - to me he was a one hit wonder - because the only song I can remember liking was "Gold digger" and even that was worn thin quickly as it was over-played.
Kudos to him for finally apologizing and admitting he's a bully/jerk/arse for interrupting Taylor Swift.
And Patrick Swayze lost his fight with cancer - big shocker! I'm really surprised - I thought he was doing alright... :( Tim had internet before me this morning and the first words out of his mouth were, "Patrick Swayze died".
I confess I have never seen the full movie of Dirty Dancing. I'll have to borrow that from somebody or watch it on Youtube or something.
Anyways - I still don't have a connection and this has gone far too long - my apologies.
And yes - I was able to remove the nail polish off my toes with no difficulty at all, my ankles aren't swelling and I have had mild cramps but not full out Braxton Hicks.
The lady reminded us again that we're not legally married here and that we have to take our marriage certificate and my birth certificate and get it stamped in Canada by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (hopefully they have an office in Halifax for my parents to do it) and then here by the Embassy of Finland. The marriage certificate is in Canada - my birth certificate is here...jeeze.
We're still getting our security ID #s however - it'll just take up to 2 weeks time. That means I'll have 6 weeks left of the pregnancy (give or take) and still no cell phone.
Now I'm hoping the kid's arrival will be late (but not too late that there's complications).
Oh and now - let's talk baby. Our marriage has to be legalized in Finland for the sake of the child's application to be put through smoothly. Yee haw.
I finally found nail polish remover (it was on sale - normally atleast 5 Euros a bottle), bobby pins (a pack of 23 for 1,45 Euros- I'm desperate), and the art store that I have been in once. It's been driving me crazy because Tim and I walked in and looked around and I left without buying anything (this was before I hit the needle-felting craze). Yet I couldn't remember the name of the store or the location unfortunately.
Today after filling out forms and having a delightful Hesburger combo - I explored on my own (may as well get my exercise while I am downtown - right?) and found the store. Which thankfully - sold magnets, pipe cleaners and foam. I plan on giving Fish! and his companion some legs, feet and a magnetic backing.
The wool was really expensive and plain looking.
So I ended up going to my new favourite store - Poppeli - and chatting with the girl there and found a couple small bags of wool that I liked.
My plan for tonight (depending on the internet connection of course (which I have since lost but am continuing to write for the sake of anything better to do presently) is to give Fish! and companion some legs and feet and make them into magnets and possibly start making some more magnets. And possibly finish a card - we'll see.
Well in North American news - Kanye West is finally apologizing...must be because the whisky's worn off. (He was seen with a full bottle that slowly dwindled to nothing throughout the night at the MTV VMAs).
What a jerk. I never liked him much to begin with - to me he was a one hit wonder - because the only song I can remember liking was "Gold digger" and even that was worn thin quickly as it was over-played.
Kudos to him for finally apologizing and admitting he's a bully/jerk/arse for interrupting Taylor Swift.
And Patrick Swayze lost his fight with cancer - big shocker! I'm really surprised - I thought he was doing alright... :( Tim had internet before me this morning and the first words out of his mouth were, "Patrick Swayze died".
I confess I have never seen the full movie of Dirty Dancing. I'll have to borrow that from somebody or watch it on Youtube or something.
Anyways - I still don't have a connection and this has gone far too long - my apologies.
And yes - I was able to remove the nail polish off my toes with no difficulty at all, my ankles aren't swelling and I have had mild cramps but not full out Braxton Hicks.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Blueberries are bigger after awhile and bumps shrink.
Alright so today's journey was a good one. I hope you're sitting comfortably while I tell you how I am able to walk into the woods with an empty bowl and 2 dogs and come out with a slightly filled bowl, 2 dogs and a bump on my head.
Well first of all - wow the berries are so much bigger and haven't lost their flavor. So it was easy to spot the smaller berries I missed before and with Loki's help - (he guided me to all the plump patches) I got about 2 cups worth on my own.
Visualize this: I'm crouching down and picking berries - content as anything that they're bigger and easier to grab. I hear a thudding sound coming towards me and figure the dogs will de-tour AROUND me. Loki is successful. He whizzes past me and all is well. I hear the thunderous thudding sound of my 75 pound border collie/lab mix, Blue and figure - he'll whiz by me too.
NOT A FRICKIN' CHANCE. Next thing I know - he's whizzing into my right temple - teeth bared at Loki (it's his thing when he's running full force) and his skull connect to my right temple. He kept running after Loki but as I screamed the "F" word as loud as possible and bawled my head off - Loki came back to lick off some tears and check on me - and Blue put himself on time out. Blue sat in a patch of berries while I sobbed and bawled and looked very sorry indeed. Loki licked some tears and then sneakily tried licking up some of the berries that fell out of my bowl I had with me.
I now am the proud pregnant woman of 2 bumps - having plastic frames for glasses (that didn't break magically) probably protected my temple - but at the same time - it hurt like a you know what.
Then to add to my Monday (which thankfully was leg spasm free) - I decided to bake the blueberry pie that I've been meaning to bake 2 weeks ago. I spent 30 minutes crushing digestive cookies into crumbs for the crust..tossed 'er in the oven and 10 minutes later went to check on it and it was burnt. WHY did it burn? Because the recipe stated for me to bake at 400*F and I put it at 300*C. I never noticed that my oven is on Celsius and not Farenheit. Needless to say - I was very upset and feeling like a failure.
To finally put the cherry on top of my day (before Tim came home with good news) - I tossed a load of laundry in the machine, thought it was done - shut if off and went to open the door but it wasn't budging. Why? Because the machine wasn't done. So therefor - I had to turn it back on and re-start the load all over again. An hour long is about the length of time for 1 load to be completed.
So tomorrow's the big day! We've been here for a month and are finally getting our Social Security ID cards. Tim received a letter today proving employment with the university - so we should be good to go!
Well first of all - wow the berries are so much bigger and haven't lost their flavor. So it was easy to spot the smaller berries I missed before and with Loki's help - (he guided me to all the plump patches) I got about 2 cups worth on my own.
Visualize this: I'm crouching down and picking berries - content as anything that they're bigger and easier to grab. I hear a thudding sound coming towards me and figure the dogs will de-tour AROUND me. Loki is successful. He whizzes past me and all is well. I hear the thunderous thudding sound of my 75 pound border collie/lab mix, Blue and figure - he'll whiz by me too.
NOT A FRICKIN' CHANCE. Next thing I know - he's whizzing into my right temple - teeth bared at Loki (it's his thing when he's running full force) and his skull connect to my right temple. He kept running after Loki but as I screamed the "F" word as loud as possible and bawled my head off - Loki came back to lick off some tears and check on me - and Blue put himself on time out. Blue sat in a patch of berries while I sobbed and bawled and looked very sorry indeed. Loki licked some tears and then sneakily tried licking up some of the berries that fell out of my bowl I had with me.
I now am the proud pregnant woman of 2 bumps - having plastic frames for glasses (that didn't break magically) probably protected my temple - but at the same time - it hurt like a you know what.
Then to add to my Monday (which thankfully was leg spasm free) - I decided to bake the blueberry pie that I've been meaning to bake 2 weeks ago. I spent 30 minutes crushing digestive cookies into crumbs for the crust..tossed 'er in the oven and 10 minutes later went to check on it and it was burnt. WHY did it burn? Because the recipe stated for me to bake at 400*F and I put it at 300*C. I never noticed that my oven is on Celsius and not Farenheit. Needless to say - I was very upset and feeling like a failure.
To finally put the cherry on top of my day (before Tim came home with good news) - I tossed a load of laundry in the machine, thought it was done - shut if off and went to open the door but it wasn't budging. Why? Because the machine wasn't done. So therefor - I had to turn it back on and re-start the load all over again. An hour long is about the length of time for 1 load to be completed.
So tomorrow's the big day! We've been here for a month and are finally getting our Social Security ID cards. Tim received a letter today proving employment with the university - so we should be good to go!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Grocery stores rock here.
Hey there:
Another update - may as well milk the connection while I have it.
The store closest to us: K-Market (there's 2 chains - K and S Market are the competitors) has great hours!
7am-9pm M-F
8am (I could be wrong)-6pm Saturday
12-9pm Sunday
And here I was today rushing at 3:45pm to get some ingredients for baking...thinking the store closed at 5.
They also have a membership card (I finally found out what it was via the Finnish Forum) - Plussa - that works at various stores... I noticed in the flyers and in the store on certain products you got certain discounts and whatnot. Well turns out it's a point system and you can redeem your points for vouchers too!
I'm totally going to hook myself up with one...I miss not having a million cards to go through in my wallet for the proper store.
Other than that - I'm keeping busy with the needle felting of cards, and just finished a thick 2-D felted bird named Fish! (as it was supposed to be a fish to begin with but with some nips and tucks - he turned into a bird).
Another update - may as well milk the connection while I have it.
The store closest to us: K-Market (there's 2 chains - K and S Market are the competitors) has great hours!
7am-9pm M-F
8am (I could be wrong)-6pm Saturday
12-9pm Sunday
And here I was today rushing at 3:45pm to get some ingredients for baking...thinking the store closed at 5.
They also have a membership card (I finally found out what it was via the Finnish Forum) - Plussa - that works at various stores... I noticed in the flyers and in the store on certain products you got certain discounts and whatnot. Well turns out it's a point system and you can redeem your points for vouchers too!
I'm totally going to hook myself up with one...I miss not having a million cards to go through in my wallet for the proper store.
Other than that - I'm keeping busy with the needle felting of cards, and just finished a thick 2-D felted bird named Fish! (as it was supposed to be a fish to begin with but with some nips and tucks - he turned into a bird).
Interesting Chinese Food in Finland and more!
Ok - so I finally am able to upload my blog and be able to type - it's only been since 10:30 (now 12:28pm) that I've been trying to get a decent connection!
Anyhow - yesterday we went for Chinese food at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant - close to downtown.
They are very sneaky people there - the marketing skills - almost worthy of the devil.
There is a menu photocopied and taped to the front window - and the prices look great. About 7-8 Euros a dish. So we figure why not!!
We walk in and Tim's main concern was what if the menu isn't in English?
The first person we see is a Chinese waiter. 2 of them at that! Guaranteed they speak English I assure him and in we go.
We sit down and the waiter comes by and starts speaking fluent Finnish. We asked if he had an English menu - and YES they do! It's on the other side of the Finnish page! Excellent.
Some things we noticed are:
-No eggrolls
-No wonton soup
-No pot stickers (pan-fried dumplings)
-The prices are much more different than the menu we saw on the window outside! As in 6-9 Euros more expensive.
Anyways - turns out that the menu on the window was for "Take Away" only. Ah well.
We ordered some "Deep-fried curry triangles" - or something like that. Not a lot of flavour and they were just flat and crispy and had a bit of meat - there were 5. If you know Tim and I - we fight and try to split everything down the middle 50/50....it's the only way to keep things fair.
There was a salad bar with: pineapple chunks, cabbage, shredded carrots, wedges of tomatos, peas and some sort of ginger(?) dressing - Tim skipped it but it was nice to have a plate of peas..mmm peas.
We asked the waiter how big the dishes were - and it turns out they are only big enough for one person each. Okay - no biggy.
Tim gets the sweet and sour pork (see photo - sauce was on a different plate) which had more batter than a piece of haddock from Nova Scotia. The pork - well I think it was there - there was an incredibly thin slice of white meat in there somewheres...once again - the batter was clearly the main event. Sauce was alright.
I decided to get the beef with scallions in a ginger sauce. Well - the beef was very tender, the sauce delightful- the only downfall was the amount of scallions and onions. I think a good bigger than a baseball-sized onion was used for my dish. There was more onion than beef. Some of the beef was rare - but I just dumped more sauce, closed my eyes and inhaled it. I didn't bother taking a photo of the beef dish - because really - it's easy to picture slices of tender beef in small bits, with a tonne of sliced onions, some green onions and brown sauce.
Not something I would order again. Thankfully Tim didn't order that dish - because he wouldn't be able to eat it with all the onions on it. I don't even think an onion lover (I'm an onion-liker I guess) would be able to eat that dish - there were so many onions.
BUT there are good points to the restaurant too:
-They give wooden chopsticks (we prefer plastic - but no biggy - we're happy they even have them)
-They use loose-leaf green tea
Gave the dogs a shower each today - no tub - so a shower is the best way to describe it. We had gone downtown yesterday in the search for flea/tick medication and couldn't find anything!! So - I resorted to my Readers Digest handy tips book and discovered white vinegar and water makes a great and cheap flea/tick deterrant. Along with cider vinegar (which I couldn't find yet) in their drinking water.
So I mixed up vinegar, water and dish soap and showered them with that....I'll have to find a spray bottle to mix up the water/vinegar solution for regular flea-spray.
Today's goal is to walk to the grocery store with both dogs (and Tim - once the laundry is done washing) and pick up some things to make a cookie crust for the blueberry pie I've been saying I'll bake for the last 2 weeks.
And vegetable oil.
Yesterday we were there - and they don't sell chocolate chips! Egad.
OH MY GOSH! Today has been 1 month that Tim and I have been in Finland! We're hoping to get our ID cards by Tuesday...Tim's going to the University tomorrow to see if they have a letter for him to prove his employment there. WAHOO!
Well - that's probably enough for now....tomorrow marks the big countdown.... 8 weeks left of the pregnancy.
Anyhow - yesterday we went for Chinese food at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant - close to downtown.
They are very sneaky people there - the marketing skills - almost worthy of the devil.
There is a menu photocopied and taped to the front window - and the prices look great. About 7-8 Euros a dish. So we figure why not!!
We walk in and Tim's main concern was what if the menu isn't in English?
The first person we see is a Chinese waiter. 2 of them at that! Guaranteed they speak English I assure him and in we go.
We sit down and the waiter comes by and starts speaking fluent Finnish. We asked if he had an English menu - and YES they do! It's on the other side of the Finnish page! Excellent.
Some things we noticed are:
-No eggrolls
-No wonton soup
-No pot stickers (pan-fried dumplings)
-The prices are much more different than the menu we saw on the window outside! As in 6-9 Euros more expensive.
Anyways - turns out that the menu on the window was for "Take Away" only. Ah well.
We ordered some "Deep-fried curry triangles" - or something like that. Not a lot of flavour and they were just flat and crispy and had a bit of meat - there were 5. If you know Tim and I - we fight and try to split everything down the middle 50/50....it's the only way to keep things fair.
There was a salad bar with: pineapple chunks, cabbage, shredded carrots, wedges of tomatos, peas and some sort of ginger(?) dressing - Tim skipped it but it was nice to have a plate of peas..mmm peas.
We asked the waiter how big the dishes were - and it turns out they are only big enough for one person each. Okay - no biggy.
Tim gets the sweet and sour pork (see photo - sauce was on a different plate) which had more batter than a piece of haddock from Nova Scotia. The pork - well I think it was there - there was an incredibly thin slice of white meat in there somewheres...once again - the batter was clearly the main event. Sauce was alright.
I decided to get the beef with scallions in a ginger sauce. Well - the beef was very tender, the sauce delightful- the only downfall was the amount of scallions and onions. I think a good bigger than a baseball-sized onion was used for my dish. There was more onion than beef. Some of the beef was rare - but I just dumped more sauce, closed my eyes and inhaled it. I didn't bother taking a photo of the beef dish - because really - it's easy to picture slices of tender beef in small bits, with a tonne of sliced onions, some green onions and brown sauce.
Not something I would order again. Thankfully Tim didn't order that dish - because he wouldn't be able to eat it with all the onions on it. I don't even think an onion lover (I'm an onion-liker I guess) would be able to eat that dish - there were so many onions.
BUT there are good points to the restaurant too:
-They give wooden chopsticks (we prefer plastic - but no biggy - we're happy they even have them)
-They use loose-leaf green tea
Gave the dogs a shower each today - no tub - so a shower is the best way to describe it. We had gone downtown yesterday in the search for flea/tick medication and couldn't find anything!! So - I resorted to my Readers Digest handy tips book and discovered white vinegar and water makes a great and cheap flea/tick deterrant. Along with cider vinegar (which I couldn't find yet) in their drinking water.
So I mixed up vinegar, water and dish soap and showered them with that....I'll have to find a spray bottle to mix up the water/vinegar solution for regular flea-spray.
Today's goal is to walk to the grocery store with both dogs (and Tim - once the laundry is done washing) and pick up some things to make a cookie crust for the blueberry pie I've been saying I'll bake for the last 2 weeks.
And vegetable oil.
Yesterday we were there - and they don't sell chocolate chips! Egad.
OH MY GOSH! Today has been 1 month that Tim and I have been in Finland! We're hoping to get our ID cards by Tuesday...Tim's going to the University tomorrow to see if they have a letter for him to prove his employment there. WAHOO!
Well - that's probably enough for now....tomorrow marks the big countdown.... 8 weeks left of the pregnancy.
Friday, September 11, 2009
It just keeps getting better.
6:30 am on a Friday morning in Finland, the sun's rising the dogs are still sleeping and I'm screaming wriggling and then flying off the bed in pain....I smuck my head into the closet doors and Tim is freaking out too I imagine.
Damn leg spasms or pains or cramps - whatever you want to title them. They are the devil. I tried relaxing and taking deep breaths - but nothing seemed to work.
The dogs awoke and stared at me huffing and puffing - I'm sure they were thrilled because I kicked one in the side in my seizure-like motions and scared the crap out of the other.
When I finally managed to stop screaming and crying and drag myself to the bathroom and back to the bedroom and lie back down - now terrified to fall asleep again in case it happened again - Tim was asleep, Blue was watching me carefully and Loki was on his back taking up my portion of the bed again. "Snooze you lose" was in the smile he gave me. Clearly I must've kicked him by accident.
Well the womb is a tough thing - because the baby decided to poke the heck out of me after all of this flopping about and finally calmed down when I did after about 10 minutes.
I've done some research - I'm going to drink water like I'm about to go live in a dessert, and elevate my leg and get some more iron, magnesium and calcium in my system.
Time to crochet in bed.
Damn leg spasms or pains or cramps - whatever you want to title them. They are the devil. I tried relaxing and taking deep breaths - but nothing seemed to work.
The dogs awoke and stared at me huffing and puffing - I'm sure they were thrilled because I kicked one in the side in my seizure-like motions and scared the crap out of the other.
When I finally managed to stop screaming and crying and drag myself to the bathroom and back to the bedroom and lie back down - now terrified to fall asleep again in case it happened again - Tim was asleep, Blue was watching me carefully and Loki was on his back taking up my portion of the bed again. "Snooze you lose" was in the smile he gave me. Clearly I must've kicked him by accident.
Well the womb is a tough thing - because the baby decided to poke the heck out of me after all of this flopping about and finally calmed down when I did after about 10 minutes.
I've done some research - I'm going to drink water like I'm about to go live in a dessert, and elevate my leg and get some more iron, magnesium and calcium in my system.
Time to crochet in bed.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Single in one country...married in another.
Alright - so we got our permits yesterday as previously mentioned and headed downtown today to the office to apply for our security ID cards. The lady said she needed a letter from the University stating Tim's contract and proof of employment. Okay - we don't have that - so decided Tim will go to school to try and figure out who to get that from and go from there.
Then she asked if we were married. We said yes (clearly labeled in our passports that we share the same last name) and she asked if we had our marriage certificate with us.
And here's the fun part. We said no - it's in Canada in storage - thinking we would not need it once our permits go through because the Embassy of Finland in Ottawa had already taken a copy of it to process our applications.
She then told us that we were not considered legally married in Finland because they need the original document so they can make a copy to have approved, stamped and sealed by their Embassy and so forth.
THERE IS GOOD NEWS. We don't need the marriage certificate to get our security ID cards - whew!
Tim just walked in the door - so hopefully he has good news...which will mean I have to walk back downtown tomorrow *sigh.
Then she asked if we were married. We said yes (clearly labeled in our passports that we share the same last name) and she asked if we had our marriage certificate with us.
And here's the fun part. We said no - it's in Canada in storage - thinking we would not need it once our permits go through because the Embassy of Finland in Ottawa had already taken a copy of it to process our applications.
She then told us that we were not considered legally married in Finland because they need the original document so they can make a copy to have approved, stamped and sealed by their Embassy and so forth.
THERE IS GOOD NEWS. We don't need the marriage certificate to get our security ID cards - whew!
Tim just walked in the door - so hopefully he has good news...which will mean I have to walk back downtown tomorrow *sigh.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Wahoo Passports!
Who knew that receiving a little navy booklet was so exciting?
Well Tim just walked out the door and noticed a piece of paper from the Post Office telling us that something has arrived from Helsinki....aka the Passports!
This is very exciting because we need our Residence Permits to get our Social Security Numbers (like an ID card) to get everything else...such as: doctors, mid-wife service (I believe it's called Kela), cell phones, library cards and so forth.
I'm very excited because we've been here for almost a month (September 12th) - and it's difficult trying to keep in touch with each other when we don't have cell phones (and the internet isn't always the best wirelessly).
Back to the needle felting...
Well Tim just walked out the door and noticed a piece of paper from the Post Office telling us that something has arrived from Helsinki....aka the Passports!
This is very exciting because we need our Residence Permits to get our Social Security Numbers (like an ID card) to get everything else...such as: doctors, mid-wife service (I believe it's called Kela), cell phones, library cards and so forth.
I'm very excited because we've been here for almost a month (September 12th) - and it's difficult trying to keep in touch with each other when we don't have cell phones (and the internet isn't always the best wirelessly).
Back to the needle felting...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
2 hours by myself!
Apparently all I need is my iPod, my bank card and a bottle of water - oh and an umbrella and I am good to go!
I got back around 1pm and walked downtown and around by myself. It was nice to have some down time - and do some exploring in the craft shops!!!
I managed to find the needles I needed and a wooden handle to insert the needles for when my projects get a bit bigger...oh and then I found a bag with multi-color wool in it...which I consider an investment - as I couldn't find the paddle brushes to combine my different colored wool.
So - I am hoping Tim sees eye to eye with me on this.
When I asked at the Singer Store (not like a musician but like the sewing machine brand) lady (who thankfully spoke English pretty well) - she thought I meant a lint brush. Sigh. Clearly not one who uses wool.
No biggy. I may go there to shop for my wool from now on - I found in the stationary store that they sold 30g for 3 Euros a bag (kind of pricey) and then there was the Singer Store - who had a bunch of different colors and natural tones - and the price was based on weight and color...which is pretty fair. But I'm still going to keep an eye out - because I feel like an idiot for buying 2 needles from the Singer Store - at 2 Euros each. When I got a 3 pack (all the same guage from the looks of things) at 2,90 Euros.
Live and learn. Sorry this is soooo crafty - but I thought I'd let you in on my adventure for the day.
Back to the feltin' :-)
(Presently working on a flower - I'm thinking of attaching them to my slippers when I'm done making those.)
I got back around 1pm and walked downtown and around by myself. It was nice to have some down time - and do some exploring in the craft shops!!!
I managed to find the needles I needed and a wooden handle to insert the needles for when my projects get a bit bigger...oh and then I found a bag with multi-color wool in it...which I consider an investment - as I couldn't find the paddle brushes to combine my different colored wool.
So - I am hoping Tim sees eye to eye with me on this.
When I asked at the Singer Store (not like a musician but like the sewing machine brand) lady (who thankfully spoke English pretty well) - she thought I meant a lint brush. Sigh. Clearly not one who uses wool.
No biggy. I may go there to shop for my wool from now on - I found in the stationary store that they sold 30g for 3 Euros a bag (kind of pricey) and then there was the Singer Store - who had a bunch of different colors and natural tones - and the price was based on weight and color...which is pretty fair. But I'm still going to keep an eye out - because I feel like an idiot for buying 2 needles from the Singer Store - at 2 Euros each. When I got a 3 pack (all the same guage from the looks of things) at 2,90 Euros.
Live and learn. Sorry this is soooo crafty - but I thought I'd let you in on my adventure for the day.
Back to the feltin' :-)
(Presently working on a flower - I'm thinking of attaching them to my slippers when I'm done making those.)
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tick, tick tweezers...Third Blog!
Ok - so last night was eventful to say the least.
What better way to spend a Saturday night washing all the linens and blankets in fear of ticks? The one we found exploded in the living room was just the beginning. Thankfully when we got home from berry picking I had already started a load of laundry and we quickly tossed all of our clothing we were presently wearing in the wash too - just to be safe. Including the dogs bandannas!
So - last night we had a nice curry pork stir-fry....and decided to check the dogs for ticks before crawling in bed. Thankfully we did! There was a sucker on Loki's FACE!
His face is beige, white and black and the bugger was in the beige part. But Loki was a champ and I happen to have 2 pairs of tweezers - so we played Operation Tick. It was successful - considering we've never, ever had to pull ticks off our dogs before - and we got the whole thing - including the head. Thank you Google!
My handy Reader's Digest book - told me to sprinkle some rubbing alcohol onto the tick to help loosen it's grip and then remove it straight out - so note to self - pick up some Rubbing Alcohol. And then to dab again to dis-infect.
We think we may have found the original tick's hide out spot - on the thinner furs of Loki's chest. What I thought was a blueberry stain (which still very well could be partially) - Tim and I found a cut - like a scrape. But our dogs are so tough (no joke here) - they don't recognize or feel any pain. The first time we went picking berries - Loki ran straight into my foot as I was taking a step over a log - and kept going...at full speed.
3rd blog - yes Ma'am/Sir!
I have decided to make a 3rd blog strictly for my arts and craft hobbies that I have going on. I've called it "My Crafty Blog": http://crochetnmoreinfinland.blogspot.com/
that's right "Crochet 'N More in Finland"
So I was going to go downtown and pick up some supplies for needle felting - as I think it would be an awesome way to relieve stress (it's the poking of a needle through wool and felt to mesh it together and form shapes) and in general a beautiful yet fairly easy craft to take on. I joined a Facebook Needle Felting Group and saw many videos on Youtube while my internet was up and running and I'm hooked (so to speak). However the rain was evil and the winds were cold today - and in my present stage of pregnancy - I cannot zip up my winter coats.
So hopefully tomorrow afternoon when Tim is done his work for the day - we'll be able to go downtown to Anttila and I can browse around.
I'm thinking of needle-felting some embellishments for my slippers (which I will begin as soon as I am done Tim's pair - 1/2 way done his first slipper) - and maybe work on creating some decorations for our home.
There are some screws/nails in the walls - so if I can dedicate myself to master (or atleast semi-perfect) the art of needle felting - then I should be good to go!
As well I need to get crackin' on holiday presents. Not sure how we're going to mail a needle-felted item - so I may just embellish slippers for the sake of shipping an item safely.
And no I haven't done my baking of the 1 Litres+ of blueberries. We decided there was no rush and because the pie does appear to feed a lot of people - we may wait and invite some friends over to join us....we'll see.
What better way to spend a Saturday night washing all the linens and blankets in fear of ticks? The one we found exploded in the living room was just the beginning. Thankfully when we got home from berry picking I had already started a load of laundry and we quickly tossed all of our clothing we were presently wearing in the wash too - just to be safe. Including the dogs bandannas!
So - last night we had a nice curry pork stir-fry....and decided to check the dogs for ticks before crawling in bed. Thankfully we did! There was a sucker on Loki's FACE!
His face is beige, white and black and the bugger was in the beige part. But Loki was a champ and I happen to have 2 pairs of tweezers - so we played Operation Tick. It was successful - considering we've never, ever had to pull ticks off our dogs before - and we got the whole thing - including the head. Thank you Google!
My handy Reader's Digest book - told me to sprinkle some rubbing alcohol onto the tick to help loosen it's grip and then remove it straight out - so note to self - pick up some Rubbing Alcohol. And then to dab again to dis-infect.
We think we may have found the original tick's hide out spot - on the thinner furs of Loki's chest. What I thought was a blueberry stain (which still very well could be partially) - Tim and I found a cut - like a scrape. But our dogs are so tough (no joke here) - they don't recognize or feel any pain. The first time we went picking berries - Loki ran straight into my foot as I was taking a step over a log - and kept going...at full speed.
3rd blog - yes Ma'am/Sir!
I have decided to make a 3rd blog strictly for my arts and craft hobbies that I have going on. I've called it "My Crafty Blog": http://crochetnmoreinfinland.blogspot.com/
that's right "Crochet 'N More in Finland"
So I was going to go downtown and pick up some supplies for needle felting - as I think it would be an awesome way to relieve stress (it's the poking of a needle through wool and felt to mesh it together and form shapes) and in general a beautiful yet fairly easy craft to take on. I joined a Facebook Needle Felting Group and saw many videos on Youtube while my internet was up and running and I'm hooked (so to speak). However the rain was evil and the winds were cold today - and in my present stage of pregnancy - I cannot zip up my winter coats.
So hopefully tomorrow afternoon when Tim is done his work for the day - we'll be able to go downtown to Anttila and I can browse around.
I'm thinking of needle-felting some embellishments for my slippers (which I will begin as soon as I am done Tim's pair - 1/2 way done his first slipper) - and maybe work on creating some decorations for our home.
There are some screws/nails in the walls - so if I can dedicate myself to master (or atleast semi-perfect) the art of needle felting - then I should be good to go!
As well I need to get crackin' on holiday presents. Not sure how we're going to mail a needle-felted item - so I may just embellish slippers for the sake of shipping an item safely.
And no I haven't done my baking of the 1 Litres+ of blueberries. We decided there was no rush and because the pie does appear to feed a lot of people - we may wait and invite some friends over to join us....we'll see.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
1 Litre and an explosive
1 Litre of back-breakin' blueberries. And they'll be delicious.
I've decided to make a cookie-crust blueberry pie because Tim doesn't like blueberry muffins and we're not sure if he likes tea biscuits with blueberries in them.
He's not a fan of raisins - so who knows.
I just re-read the recipe and it calls for 6 CUPS of blueberries...argh! I have a litre's worth and 2 cups in another dish....I hope it's enough.
Maybe I will cheat and put slices of apples in there too.....yeah I could buy more blueberries - but who knows. We'll see.
Ok - onto the "explosive part".
I'm going to have to do some research about ticks as I've never came across one until today. I forgot my camera in the living room and we were about to head out to pick some berries - so as I entered the living room...I saw blood splattered on the floor(kind of watery looking but still) and a bug of sorts. After Tim got closer to it - he said it was a tick that had fully exploded itself pretty much from consuming so much blood.
Anyways we think it may be tick season here - especially with us living in front of a very woodsy area and taking them every second day or so to pick berries....
I know that was super disgusting - but if anybody has any tips on how to treat them (besides flea/tick medicene - which we have yet to find here) - that'd be great!
Time to do some research and make supper.
PS Just was talking to the mother inlaw and this is what she had to say about shipping stuff:
" I'm trying to get prices for shipping. I'm spoken to Euro Transport and they are faxing me prices. He says They ship based on cu footage. Hope to get prices on Monday. The post office wants over $ 50.00 plus taxes to delivery that shoe box of toys and she said it will still take betwwen 2 weeks and a month by express post. Parcel Post would take ?????????. If we can ship everything over at once hopefullyit'ss be a lot cheaper. The fellow at Euro transport said it would cheapest to ship from Terminal to Terminal. Halifax to Helsinki. Would you guys be able to arrange for pick up from Helsinki . He said of Euro Transport delivered to your door it would be another $1000 to $1500. for a shipment the size of a regular washing machine ( 6 - 12 boxes)"
Ridiculous.
I've decided to make a cookie-crust blueberry pie because Tim doesn't like blueberry muffins and we're not sure if he likes tea biscuits with blueberries in them.
He's not a fan of raisins - so who knows.
I just re-read the recipe and it calls for 6 CUPS of blueberries...argh! I have a litre's worth and 2 cups in another dish....I hope it's enough.
Maybe I will cheat and put slices of apples in there too.....yeah I could buy more blueberries - but who knows. We'll see.
Ok - onto the "explosive part".
I'm going to have to do some research about ticks as I've never came across one until today. I forgot my camera in the living room and we were about to head out to pick some berries - so as I entered the living room...I saw blood splattered on the floor(kind of watery looking but still) and a bug of sorts. After Tim got closer to it - he said it was a tick that had fully exploded itself pretty much from consuming so much blood.
Anyways we think it may be tick season here - especially with us living in front of a very woodsy area and taking them every second day or so to pick berries....
I know that was super disgusting - but if anybody has any tips on how to treat them (besides flea/tick medicene - which we have yet to find here) - that'd be great!
Time to do some research and make supper.
PS Just was talking to the mother inlaw and this is what she had to say about shipping stuff:
" I'm trying to get prices for shipping. I'm spoken to Euro Transport and they are faxing me prices. He says They ship based on cu footage. Hope to get prices on Monday. The post office wants over $ 50.00 plus taxes to delivery that shoe box of toys and she said it will still take betwwen 2 weeks and a month by express post. Parcel Post would take ?????????. If we can ship everything over at once hopefullyit'ss be a lot cheaper. The fellow at Euro transport said it would cheapest to ship from Terminal to Terminal. Halifax to Helsinki. Would you guys be able to arrange for pick up from Helsinki . He said of Euro Transport delivered to your door it would be another $1000 to $1500. for a shipment the size of a regular washing machine ( 6 - 12 boxes)"
Ridiculous.
Bakin'
So I am going to go back to the grocery store soon, pick up the rest of the ingredients I need for a "Cookie Crust Blueberry pie" (I'm terrible at making pie crusts honestly) and then go blueberry picking for the rest of the afternoon and break my back doing so again (I'm sure). Ah well - atleast the dogs will have fun and be able to run around loose as it's quite sunny out but cool - which is perfect for picking berries. I don't have to worry about being eaten alive by bugs because there aren't that many here. Whew!
Found out today my old cadet friend Maragret may visit me around Christmas time! Wahoo! I'm super excited as I haven't seen her in ages to begin with (yay cadet camp - she was a gunner and I was band)....so that'll make things very interesting.
Alright my internet is super sketchy -but I'll let y'all know how the baking goes tonight....*crossing my fingers that it turns out ok and that I have internet!
Found out today my old cadet friend Maragret may visit me around Christmas time! Wahoo! I'm super excited as I haven't seen her in ages to begin with (yay cadet camp - she was a gunner and I was band)....so that'll make things very interesting.
Alright my internet is super sketchy -but I'll let y'all know how the baking goes tonight....*crossing my fingers that it turns out ok and that I have internet!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Downtown on a Friday
So instead of going downtown tomorrow - we decided to be spontaneous and go downtown this afternoon.
Slightly bad idea to do a few hours of walking when yesterday I did a lot of squatting/bending and crouching to get blueberries - ah well. I'll probably make it worse and go picking berries tomorrow if the weather's decent.
This morning it poured - reminded me of Nova Scotia - except it lasted less than 10 minutes. Then it was sprinkles and mist throughout the day, some sunshine and so forth.
We went back to Grilli 21 - as one should be well fed prior to the ups and downs of downtown Jyv�skyl� - and it was a different girl making our Bacon-burgers. *Note photos via Facebook*
Instead of relish - we had pickle slices (YAY!), instead of raw onions - we had crispy-fried onions (YUMMY) and she packed it on. It took me about 5 full minutes to get to the patty because I had to clear through the onion fried bits. But it was good.
So now that we're fed - it's off to downtown's City Center to see what's going on.
I found some black yarn (as per Tim's request) to make him some slippers - and the one slipper is turning out great so far! I picked up 4 balls - so I'll be keeping myself busy - I don't think it'll take 4 to make one pair of slippers. I just like being overly-prepared.
So not only were there massive tents/kiosks with yummy smelling food (see some photos), there was a fashion show too! Why they did this on a Friday before 5pm - as opposed to a weekend - I don't know. But there were TV crews and lots of people watching - it was pretty packed.
And finally - the book store. It's huge! It has 2 floors and there were some English books....they had Twilight books in English!...and the bottom floor was just for kids books and stationary. OMG the stationary. Walls of papers, notebooks, agendas, calendars and stickies and many books had LINED paper at that!
I must ask why grid paper is the norm here - it's really driving me crazy not knowing. Yes I am a stationary junky. I think I'd go back to school just to shop for stationary...I love it.
Hello Kitty seems to be pretty popular here too...I'm so glad because I love Hello Kitty a lot - I have a lanyard with a stuffed HK hanging from it for my keys and a wallet too! Secretly I'm also very glad I drew HK on my grocery bag - maybe I can blend in with the store products. Haha.
So we took a look in the Eco store again today and have decided we're going to go cloth diapers - but not the overly fancy ones (as they're about 20 Euros a pop) but just the simple diaper cover and fold the cloths/liners and use those. And the plastic pants if necessary.
Night time/visiting or traveling = disposables for sure.
Went to the grocery store and decided to pick up some basic ingredients for baking...I can't find the brown sugar. ARGHHHHH! Will have to try again next time. The white sugar wasn't with the flour and oats (I also can't find or translate the baking powder either...another must for next time) - it was with the tea!
Speaking of tea - Tim finally found a box of Twinings "Prince of Wales tea". He loves the stuff but in Halifax you have to pay an arm and a leg at Pete's Frootique for a box of it or get a mixed blend with other flavours.
I also recommend Twinings "Russian Earl Grey" it was very nice. *Note - I generally do not put sugar or milk in my tea...milk is only mandatory if it's super hot and I can't handle it. And never in the green tea!
Alright the dogs are crying to go out and to be fed...and my internet has yet again been wacky lately.
PS we got a new English-Suomi Suomi-English dictionary - it's great:) Suomi being Finnish
Slightly bad idea to do a few hours of walking when yesterday I did a lot of squatting/bending and crouching to get blueberries - ah well. I'll probably make it worse and go picking berries tomorrow if the weather's decent.
This morning it poured - reminded me of Nova Scotia - except it lasted less than 10 minutes. Then it was sprinkles and mist throughout the day, some sunshine and so forth.
We went back to Grilli 21 - as one should be well fed prior to the ups and downs of downtown Jyv�skyl� - and it was a different girl making our Bacon-burgers. *Note photos via Facebook*
Instead of relish - we had pickle slices (YAY!), instead of raw onions - we had crispy-fried onions (YUMMY) and she packed it on. It took me about 5 full minutes to get to the patty because I had to clear through the onion fried bits. But it was good.
So now that we're fed - it's off to downtown's City Center to see what's going on.
I found some black yarn (as per Tim's request) to make him some slippers - and the one slipper is turning out great so far! I picked up 4 balls - so I'll be keeping myself busy - I don't think it'll take 4 to make one pair of slippers. I just like being overly-prepared.
So not only were there massive tents/kiosks with yummy smelling food (see some photos), there was a fashion show too! Why they did this on a Friday before 5pm - as opposed to a weekend - I don't know. But there were TV crews and lots of people watching - it was pretty packed.
And finally - the book store. It's huge! It has 2 floors and there were some English books....they had Twilight books in English!...and the bottom floor was just for kids books and stationary. OMG the stationary. Walls of papers, notebooks, agendas, calendars and stickies and many books had LINED paper at that!
I must ask why grid paper is the norm here - it's really driving me crazy not knowing. Yes I am a stationary junky. I think I'd go back to school just to shop for stationary...I love it.
Hello Kitty seems to be pretty popular here too...I'm so glad because I love Hello Kitty a lot - I have a lanyard with a stuffed HK hanging from it for my keys and a wallet too! Secretly I'm also very glad I drew HK on my grocery bag - maybe I can blend in with the store products. Haha.
So we took a look in the Eco store again today and have decided we're going to go cloth diapers - but not the overly fancy ones (as they're about 20 Euros a pop) but just the simple diaper cover and fold the cloths/liners and use those. And the plastic pants if necessary.
Night time/visiting or traveling = disposables for sure.
Went to the grocery store and decided to pick up some basic ingredients for baking...I can't find the brown sugar. ARGHHHHH! Will have to try again next time. The white sugar wasn't with the flour and oats (I also can't find or translate the baking powder either...another must for next time) - it was with the tea!
Speaking of tea - Tim finally found a box of Twinings "Prince of Wales tea". He loves the stuff but in Halifax you have to pay an arm and a leg at Pete's Frootique for a box of it or get a mixed blend with other flavours.
I also recommend Twinings "Russian Earl Grey" it was very nice. *Note - I generally do not put sugar or milk in my tea...milk is only mandatory if it's super hot and I can't handle it. And never in the green tea!
Alright the dogs are crying to go out and to be fed...and my internet has yet again been wacky lately.
PS we got a new English-Suomi Suomi-English dictionary - it's great:) Suomi being Finnish
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Blueberries make your fingers go purple...
So Tim came home early from school today (he also went in early) and we decided to go hiking in the woods behind our building. It was sunny and cool and just warm enough that I didn't need a sweater.
I wish I brought my camera! There's still a lot of greenery - considering our leaves are already turning color...and the dogs looked so ecstatic when Tim found a "blueberry patch". I put " " around blueberry patch because it really should be called a "Blueberry Forest". The patches were huge and everywheres! I normally have a hard time finding blueberries because they're usually here and there and wayyyyyyyyy over yonder...but nope. I stayed in one spot for about 5 full minutes - collecting berries.
I will be uploading photos on Facebook shortly - and yes your eyes are correct. All I had with me were a couple clean and empty doggy bags - so I filled one half way (about 2 cups) with the wild berries we found. I think I could spend all day there picking and there would still be plenty to go around. I don't think many people go as far into the woods as we did - there were so many berries. And about 99% of them were in great condition! Even the ones that had landed on the earthy grounds were in great shape.
Blue's paw has a purple stain on it - from running through the patches and both him and Loki got excited to find something they could eat (and not get in trouble for - like grass or poo...the second being very rare but still) that they would just munch on different parts of the patches and hope there was a berry or two attached. Once they realized that Tim and I were actually picking them - they'd sneak up on us and sniff the patch, waiting for the fingers to grab the berry and SLURRRP! The berry was gone. Very clever dogs.
We also tried a dessert with blueberry and a custard sort of filling too. It's not too bad. I've noticed that some of the packaged baked goods has black specks in it - possibly saffron? Either way - it's yumm-o.
Marinated meat seems to be a normal trend (doesn't seem like you pay an arm and a leg for extra marinade - unlike Canada...you're expecting to pay atleast another 2-3$ if not more), chicken is very cheap (wings or other pieces), along with pork. Steak doesn't seem to be very common here ...mind you I haven't really looked in the big grocery store - that was a quick run-around while we had someone driving us. However mixed beef and pork chunks for stew is very common along with the ground mixture...I recall Heidi Klum making her "famous German Balls" on Ellen DeGeneres - and she used a mix of ground pork and beef...maybe a European thing.
PS They don't call it "Finland" here...it's "Suomi"....weird eh? Something written in English will say "made in Finland" for example...but on our new dictionary - it has "Suomi" instead.
I wish I brought my camera! There's still a lot of greenery - considering our leaves are already turning color...and the dogs looked so ecstatic when Tim found a "blueberry patch". I put " " around blueberry patch because it really should be called a "Blueberry Forest". The patches were huge and everywheres! I normally have a hard time finding blueberries because they're usually here and there and wayyyyyyyyy over yonder...but nope. I stayed in one spot for about 5 full minutes - collecting berries.
I will be uploading photos on Facebook shortly - and yes your eyes are correct. All I had with me were a couple clean and empty doggy bags - so I filled one half way (about 2 cups) with the wild berries we found. I think I could spend all day there picking and there would still be plenty to go around. I don't think many people go as far into the woods as we did - there were so many berries. And about 99% of them were in great condition! Even the ones that had landed on the earthy grounds were in great shape.
Blue's paw has a purple stain on it - from running through the patches and both him and Loki got excited to find something they could eat (and not get in trouble for - like grass or poo...the second being very rare but still) that they would just munch on different parts of the patches and hope there was a berry or two attached. Once they realized that Tim and I were actually picking them - they'd sneak up on us and sniff the patch, waiting for the fingers to grab the berry and SLURRRP! The berry was gone. Very clever dogs.
We also tried a dessert with blueberry and a custard sort of filling too. It's not too bad. I've noticed that some of the packaged baked goods has black specks in it - possibly saffron? Either way - it's yumm-o.
Marinated meat seems to be a normal trend (doesn't seem like you pay an arm and a leg for extra marinade - unlike Canada...you're expecting to pay atleast another 2-3$ if not more), chicken is very cheap (wings or other pieces), along with pork. Steak doesn't seem to be very common here ...mind you I haven't really looked in the big grocery store - that was a quick run-around while we had someone driving us. However mixed beef and pork chunks for stew is very common along with the ground mixture...I recall Heidi Klum making her "famous German Balls" on Ellen DeGeneres - and she used a mix of ground pork and beef...maybe a European thing.
PS They don't call it "Finland" here...it's "Suomi"....weird eh? Something written in English will say "made in Finland" for example...but on our new dictionary - it has "Suomi" instead.
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