Finnbay = Waste of Time

Not sure if you knew this but I used to write for Finnbay.
I was approached last February via my blog (this one actually) by a fellow named Onur requesting my assistance in helping to get his site launched.

What is Finnbay?
An online source of information to help other foreigners out living here...
And he was frustrated that there wasn't enough support for expats in English - fair enough.
So Finnbay is just a more modern and updated version of the Finnish Forum and has photos and articles and such...like an online magazine full of information from expats with the knowledge and experience - okay - interesting!

What did you have to do?
Write articles - pretty much blog - about my life and experiences of living in Finland. Onur found me via this blog and liked it a lot and thought I could really contribute to the site.
I was excited because in his e-mail it was stated that I would get more exposure to my blog and my writing and help build a bigger network etc.  I'll write what ended up happening in this post...keep reading!

The terms were fairly relaxed - I will give Finnbay credit - I did not write very frequently at all I admit.  I more or less edited (or straight up copied) posts that were already existing from my blog - because it was just easier and less time consuming of course.  I'm a mother of 2 super active kids and 2 dogs and he knew that I was a busy person (and in the process of signing up for Finnish courses) - so I was glad that me contributing to the site wasn't a huge deal in terms of "strict deadlines".
However the layouts for the site were quite strict and Wordpress is apparently NOT my friend (we really don't click)...so I usually just typed up an article via e-mail and sent it to Onur and he kindly posted it accordingly on my behalf.

Were you getting paid?
No I wasn't.
However, during a phone call, it was suggested that myself and other regular authors/staff would get some monetary compensation once sponsors and donations came through for the site.
*Update November 23, 2013 - there's also the same suggestion in an e-mail from Finnbay's creator that I have found recently.
I haven't (and I'm sure others haven't either) heard a single word about any kind of payment for our articles posted...
In fact, my friend Adam, ended up writing a bit for Helsinki Times and it's sister magazine/paper "6 Degrees", and was getting paid for it.  When Onur found out - he didn't support Adam's decision to continue working for 6 Degrees and write occasionally for Finnbay...if he did, then I suppose Adam would do what he could to keep Finnbay updated with his articles - but when push comes to shove - Adam didn't really have any other way to make an income - while studying Finnish too - in a smaller city that is dominantly Finnish-speaking.
I understand and appreciate that Onur is hoping to make his own income via Finnbay - all of us foreigners have our talents and should use them to the best of our ability when living in a foreign country and of course try to help with the bills and living expenses!  Especially if you are married to a native of that foreign country and they're the current bread-winner!
But to suggest to Adam, that he NOT be a team member because he was getting paid (and deservedly so) by another company, when Finnbay could not provide any sort of pocket change for any of the "staff" - hardly fair.
I would think that having Mr. Adam Faber - a quickly becoming popular writer for Helsinki Times AND 6 Degrees (along with his own personal blog) - would be nothing but a benefit to Finnbay.

What articles?  Your name isn't listed in the "About Us" section of Finnbay...
Ah, but if you do a search for "Dominique Riggs" - you'll find my articles...why are they still on the site if I'm no longer a team member?  No idea...Adam's are there too.
Anyhoo - here's the links to my articles (in no particular order that I wrote them either):

• Restaurant Day - From the Seller's View
• Having a Baby in Finland?
• You Have a Baby...Now What?

I just listed three- there are some others like banking in Finland and other little things.
*Update:  They have been removed as per my request - as of November 2013*

Anyways, in my profile on the Finnbay site (and anyone else listed as an author/writer) - my blog was not listed at all.  Just things that I liked to do (which I did write myself), which funny enough included BLOGGING, and my Learning About Finland blog - nowhere to be found.
Other authors didn't have their blog listed either unless it did not relate to an expat life in Finland.

An e-mail I had received from Onur stated a funny request.
Pretty much (without copying an actual copy of the e-mail on here) he wanted me to NOT write articles on my blog that were same as the ones I had written on Finnbay (even though the original was from MY blog and possibly posted online for months/years in advance of Finnbay's existence) - he expected me to write in my blog - a LINK to the "original post".  AKA link everything to the ever-so-holy Finnbay....
Because he has discovered that Google searches degrade sites with content that is duplicated elsewhere. 
Onur then advised me that another writer used to write for his own blog but now he just writes the link to Finnbay's site.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF WRITING IN A BLOG, IF YOU'RE ONLY WRITING URL LINKS?(Wiith a little description of what to expect when you click on the link...)
None - that's what.

Thanks to that little e-mail "Bob" - you sealed my future with Finnbay.  I decided I was done with Finnbay. 
For one - I never use your site.  I rarely promote it too because I find it ridiculously slow (and I'm currently typing in class on a fast-speed connection and there's nothing but a black screen for the past 10 minutes) and I don't agree with your methods or poor ideals of "Team Work".

Then when I was trying to write an e-mail advising the Finnbay team that I no longer was interested in writing or being part of their team - I got a totally random e-mail that was addressed to all the staff.
It was in regards to a fellow named *N.P.* - who had e-mailed Finnbay and threatened to shut down Finnbay because he wasn't paid appropriately. 
Of course, I don't know both sides - but for someone to demand the remaining of his pay - I think that is justified and if he wasn't getting a straight answer from Onur - he should contact the police.  I understand he was on the tech support of the team and he attempted to hack and change things on the Finnbay site until he received the last bit of his money.

Another nail in the coffin.  I decided right away - this is the time to get out of this crappy "company" and get back to blogging for ME.
When I advised Onur that I would be leaving Finnbay permanently via e-mail:

"Hi Onur:

I just feel that I do not have time to commit to Finnbay and would rather write for my own blog.
I also noticed on your site that my link to my blog is no longer listed and feel that is not fair, considering that is how you found me (and I'm sure the other authors).

Thank you for the oppourtunity and I wish you the best with Finnbay.

Dominique"

His poor response was a thanks for contributing and a best of luck with my stuff.

Absolutely no recognition for his own selfishness or apologies either.

If you're a fan of my blog - thanks so much!  I really appreciate it and am currently studying Finnish intensively so my blogging times have dropped a bit but as soon as something interesting is going on - I try and blog or at least start a blog piece :).
If you're a fan of Finnbay - great, I'm glad that Onur and his team of hard-workers are helping you get the information that you need.

Don't like Finnbay and how it treats their staff?  Let them know on their site!
Oh I will do them the kindness of linking their site here.  I'm sure there's a "CONTACT US" section somewhere - but yet again, I'm still waiting for the site to load up.  (Maybe it's because I was using Internet Explorer and other search engines are faster...)

Cheers.

Updated: November 23, 2013
I had previously changed the owner of Finnbay's owner/creator, to "Bob" - however, due to a review of the Finnish "defamation law" and a review of Finnbay's Legal Terms and Conditions (Section 3.1.9) - I am no longer bound by them and never were to begin with - as I will explain further in a separate blog post - to which legally, I am entitled to write and publish publicly - hence the first name being listed again.

Classic American Diner - a Double Review...

Last week one of my girlfriends and I went to try out the newest restaurant in JKL - Classic American Diner.
I had heard wonderful things about the Tampere location and was eager to try this place out.
Well, if you can, make a reservation first...because we managed to grab a table after a 5-minutes wait and our waiter who cleaned off the previous table came to us and asked if we had ordered our food yet...so needless to say, it was pretty busy.
He kindly warned us that there was a 45-minutes long wait for food...not a problem, as we had a lot of catching up to do...and when you don't have children with you - you have ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD - or so it feels like.

We waited over 20 minutes for our drinks - pop....so that was a bit disappointing...a nearby table had received some bowls of chips to munch on while they waited...maybe because they ordered alcohol and we didn't?  Not sure...

20 minutes later ...we got our wings.  We ordered 25 wings to share and the sauce was only medium (next time I go I want to try something hotter)...the blue cheese dip was nice and the carrot and celery sticks were thick and chunky.
The oddest thing about our wing order - no plates.  It was served in a big basket lined with paper, sauce and grease covering the wings (which were better than Food wings by the way)...but no little plates to put our bones...no wet wipes to wash our hands after...so we just used napkins to put our bones - instead of risking waiting another 10-20 minutes for any other service.

Another 20 minutes or longer wait for our burger platters and afterwards we were able to leave.
I had ordered a 200g (medium) burger platter but the wings and veggie sticks filled me up quite a bit so I didn't eat a lot of my meal unfortunately.
My friend had the Angus burger platter and I guess she liked it enough because she ate more than I did in comparison.

We DID get a free refill on our pops...not sure if that was an accident or not....most places don't offer free refills...

Overall?  We were stuffed but not terribly thrilled by the service or the food....

Now, I told my husband about this place and when he heard they had an ALL-DAY breakfast - he just had to try it!
So we went there yesterday and it was easy enough to find a table....we had our kids with us and while there are only 4 stairs - there is also the option of placing and using ramps for the stroller wheels.
The only problem with these is that you have to gauge how far apart to put them so your wheels fit on and they're quite heavy...so we just toughed it out and lifted our double stroller up those 4 stairs.
We ordered a Kid's Chicken Finger meal, a couple sodas and water, the All-day breakfast for hubby and I opted for a smaller burger (bacon) meal.
We asked the waitress if it was possible to get our son's meal first because he was quite hungry and it was just past 2pm...and he normally has a snack then...she said yep no problem.  Tim also asked for pancakes with his all-day breakfast and that was fine too.
We got our drinks fairly quickly (within 10 minutes) and meals came about 30 minutes or so after ordering...Tim and I took turns rushing V�in� in and out of the restaurant because he was so hungry and upset (and tired) that we didn't want to bother other customers by his yelling and attempts at running about.
Finally our food arrived and while V�in� refused the chicken fingers (even though I broke it in half and blew on it to make sure it was cool enough) - he pounded back the fries.
Tim's breakfast didn't have pancakes.  Apparently it was an extra add-on that Tim was really looking forward to - but maybe she didn't hear...
Ah well - oh and you should probably specify how you like your eggs cooked...these were kind of sunny-side up and Tim's more of a yolk-broken (over-hard) kind of guy.  Not that the waitress asked when taking our order....
My meal was fine and once our youngest woke up - I offered him the non-ripped up chicken finger which he happily ate, along with most of my fries.
When I handed him half of the other chicken finger (the meal comes with 2) I noticed that it looked a little odd in the center...

Chicken finger was a little pink in the center...it's a cell phone picture so it doesn't show the colour as well.

But then there's these awesome cardboard cars that kids' meals come in...and yes, you can totally take them home with
you.

Did I complain about the pink chicken?  Nope.  Why?  Because I don't know if the first piece was pink or not as it was devoured quickly...and all the fries were gone...
And no, this meal did not come out in 5 or 10 minutes...it came out with all the others...so why was it under cooked?  Not sure.

I don't think I will be going there any time soon - except for maybe the wings.  

Watch The Code!

Nope - not referring to some movie or Youtube video...
I'm warning all of you living in Finland to be careful when pressing the button at the grocery store when weighing your fruits, veggies or baked goods!
I was in a rush the other day and must have pressed the wrong button when weighing some Karelian pies for my kids (that rye snack topped with rice or potato and butter) because when it was scanned by the cashier - she said something about "koodi" and gave me a very stern and pissy look.
I was smiling like an idiot because my kids had stopped screaming for all of 5 minutes so I could pay for the groceries and I'm sure that looked like "GUILTY AS HECK".
She scuttled off and came back a couple minutes later with the proper code and price tag stuck on my brown paper bag...there was a difference of 20-odd cents.
I didn't even apologize because I had no idea what was going on - and was hopping from one foot to the other hoping she'd hurry up before my kids realized it was lunch time and they should be screaming as loud as possible for their food....again - looking antsy and guilty...and like a foreigner.  Go me...

I paid and left and when I told my friend this story - she warned ME!
My friend read in the local paper that some guy pushed the wrong button or didn't weigh his avocados properly and the Police got involved....and he was fined a ticket of 160 EUROS!!!
So be warned of what button you press - take that extra second to double-check...or you might end up with a VERY expensive grocery bill!

"He's Not a Finnish Baby!" - a Doctor Appointment...

I realized today that I don't blog a lot about my kids' experiences here...I suppose that's for a few reasons:

A) They still don't speak (3.5 years and 1.5 years old).
B) It's the same thing everyday - wake up, day-care, come home, playground, eat, pee/poop/shower, scream/fight, sleep....

But a couple days ago - we had quite the doctor's appointment - I cannot resist sharing this...and I'm sure my 1.5 year old won't mind...and maybe he'll laugh at this when he gets much older....

It took me forever to finally remember to get an appointment for Ahti - just his 1.5 year check up...I always missed the slim window of 1 hour from 12pm-1pm because I was in class at the time or the line was busy and I had to get to class after my lunch break.
Well, I got in - 2 months after that phone call.

June 26th - a few days after returning from our hectic Wales/London trip (still working on that London part of the post!) - we're lying in bed and sound asleep in the morning.
The kids were staying home from day-care because Tim's supervisor was visiting and wanted to have a playdate with all the kids some time that morning.
What a treat to sleep in!!!
Suddenly, my phone buzzes and I look at my screen - and it says:

"Ahti Doctor Appointment 8:30 am

In 3 minutes - Snooze or Dismiss?"

I instantly jump off the bed (which was a child's top bunk) and rush into the main bedroom screeching for my husband to wake up.  What are we going to do?!  We cannot possibly get there on time - without a car, a shower, waking the kids...lots of curse words were used by me....
I tried calling the Neuvola nurse we have and she was busy working - nobody answered.

I quickly messaged a different Neuvola nurse (an awesome friend of mine) and she gladly changed the appointment time to the next day...

PHEW! My heart was pounding like a horse race track!

So the next day, we kept Ahti home from day care and made it to his appointment 25 minutes early.  And he was asleep...alright - 25 minutes nap is better than none right?...WRONG.

We had a different nurse take his basic measurements and he freaked...full out screaming and fighting and throwing his soother and any toy across the room.  BUT!  She got his measurements.

We had a bit of a wait for the doctor - so he played with toys and ran up and down the hall and was quite happy.
Then we went into the doctor's office.
The thing with Neuvola doctors is that they are usually quite young (not saying they're not in-experienced!), don't have kids of their own (which perfectly fine too!) but you never get the same doctor when your child has their yearly appointment.
Well, the one I got was both very young and her patience was low...granted, it was near the end of her work shift and having another screaming child (and one that can run at that!) probably didn't make her day any easier.  (Sorry!)
She checked his profile and in that 30 seconds time span - Ahti discovered she had a cupboard of toys behind her desk...specifically - 2 trucks.
She tried to check his eyes and he sat still for about 20 seconds and was more interested in the cars...I was tired of getting bopped in the face with these chunky cars and she couldn't get the light in his eyes properly anyway.
Then he started to scream....so after 5 minutes (or was it more?!) of chasing him down - she suggested politely:

"I need a break and maybe Ahti does too...how about he goes to play in the play room and I will take another child in...then I will come back to you?"

Yep - fine.

We went back in afterwards and he was calmer and happier and instantly went back for her two trucks...she wanted to test his pinching reflexes...I jokingly pointed at my arm where I had a bright purple bruise and said "Oh no worries - he can pinch!"
She smirked a bit and wanted to see him do it with a bead on a short piece of string.  Of course, the trucks take priority and she got frustrated quickly that he wouldn't take it from her.
I suggested she put it in the dump truck, because then he'll give it back to her.  She was fairly skeptical but did it and ta-da!  Ahti picked it up (pinch-style of course) and said "ES!" and gave it to her...she did it again a few more times and was pleased with his pinching.

We tried the eyes again - because she was looking for a reflection of the light in his eyes - should be red apparently...and couldn't find it.

"Well, it's hard to find this red light - because you know...he's not a Finnish baby..."
"Huh?  Do you mean his eyes are really dark so you can't see this light?" -me
"YES!  His eyes - the pigment is so dark...I can't see this light...but maybe it's okay because he can clearly see - he's running around and driving the trucks.." (and not bumping into anything was my thought)
A part of me wanted to say "Oh but he is � Finnish!"  but his file probably says he has a Canadian dad... 

"So!  Let's look at his belly and I have to check his testes and everything..."
**Cue my 1.5 year old stripping....I told him we had to have a diaper change and POW!  He's wiggling and pushing his diaper down and running 100% buck-naked.**
"Well....um...I have never had this happen before!  He must like being naked!  This will make it so much easier to check his stomach!" -her
"Yes, well - you have to catch him...that part isn't easy.." - MY TURN TO SMIRK!
Between the two of us - we manage to tackle him down and she quickly presses everything and he is laughing and trying to smack her in the face with a truck....
Then while he's still running about (still have to check his little boy bits) - she's laughing at how fast he is...and he started to head towards her chair (you know - the office type with fabric...)...and I say, "Oh - by the way - he's not potty trained yet...so we should finish this quickly - just in case!"

Well, that wiped a smile off her face pretty quickly.
Nothing happened - but you never know!!

Anyways, the final verdict was that he's growing well for a boy his age (and probably for a non-Finnish kid) and the red light in his eye thing...well, she's going to e-mail some eye doctor and explain our situation...and see what they say.

"But I looked at his notes and the last doctor could sort of see a very faint red line....and it's obvious he can see....so I think he's okay..."

Such comforting words to end an appointment....

So this appointment started at 1:20pm...and we did not leave until 3:50pm....we should have been out within an hour maximum....or even 40 minutes!

Until next time!

Palapeli = Done.

It's been a tough two and a half months not being able to blog as much as I would like as I have been studying and taking Finnish lessons via Palapeli.

The exams were this past week and involved 3 days worth of tests.

Monday:  The speech test.  You are in a room with two teachers - one to ask you the questions, the other to mark your responses down.
Some questions I was asked and not necessarily in this order (translated English):

• What's your name?
• Are you married?
• Do you have children?
• Tell us about your family.
• How old are you?
• How long have you lived in Finland for?
• Why do you live in Finland?
• What is your profession?
• What do you like to do?  (hobbies)
• What would you like to do in Finland? (Long term goal or dream)
• What is your nationality?
• What country are you from?
• Where do you live?

Then - the describe the pictures session:

You look at a comic strip and describe the time and what the character is doing.

"They wake up at 6, they shower, they eat breakfast, then go to the bus then get to work ...etc."

Then the situation questions...this was brutal for me as the teacher who asked me the questions wasn't my regular teacher (she was marking my responses down) so I was just picking words and stringing them together and hoping they made sense...

• You're in a grocery store and want to know where the pepper is.  How do you ask for help and where the pepper is?
• You're in the grocery store and you found the pepper but it doesn't have a price.  How do you inquire about the price of it?
• You're waiting at the bus stop and when the bus comes - you need to ask the driver if this bus goes to the hospital.  What do you say?
• You get on the bus and your bus card (pass) is empty - what do you say or do?  

Then it was conversation time.

• "Huomenta!" - I responded with "Huomenta, mit� kuuluu?" (Good morning, how are you?)  Apparently that was the wrong answer - I should have just stuck with "Huomenta."  Why was this the wrong answer (sort of)?  Because her next question was:
• "Mit� kuuluu?"
• Do you know where the bathroom is?
• Can I borrow a pen?

That's all I can remember, considering it's been over 2 weeks since I started this post and did the exams.

The written ones were alright...mix and match, write a description of photos, label things, explain what's going on based on advertisements, write your profile out etc.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take my tests home (so I could give you a slightly better description) because they re-use the tests every time it seems.

The final markings are based on A-C levels - based on comprehension, reading and speech - so if your percentage (out of 100%) was a bit low - do not stress.

Mine were 82 and 76% respectively (there were two written exams plus a listening one) but my A levels were A 1.2-1.3 - so pretty good for a beginner studying Finnish!
And if you're wondering (sorry I don't have the descriptions of levels with me right now) a C-level is pretty much a native to Finland who speaks Finnish as their mother-tongue.
So if you're not a C-level...don't worry.

I have learned since that Palapeli is not available anywhere else in Finland - just in Jyv�skyl�...but I'm sure if you live in a different part of Finland - your city will have something similar to offer assistance to foreigners to learn the language!

And afterwards - there is another couple classes then there's some group outing...then perhaps a massive potluck - I wouldn't know because I left early to travel to Wales.

Good luck!

Wales Trip!

Hubby has 3 conferences this month and they're all in England.
We decided we would join him for the second one because one of his colleagues from Canada was planning on being there, but at last minute he wasn't able to get there.
The conference we went to was only 4 days long and in Cardiff, Wales.
I have never been to England before, with the exception of a stop over in Heathrow Airport (London) - so this was super exciting for me!  (And what if I saw a Royal?!)

Well, Wales rains everyday for at least five minutes and multiple times a day...sometimes it's drizzle, sometimes it's a lot of rain and sometimes - it's a downpour.
I'm sure the babies there are born with rain coats, splash pants, rain boots and an umbrella!

The signs in Welsh were amazing...they were a mix of letters that made absolutely no sense to me (thankfully the English translation was included!) and I now understand why people say Welsh can be a tricky language!

What to pack when traveling to Wales:

• Rain boots or sandals if you don't mind your feet being wet!  If you intend to do a lot of walking about - good foot wear is a must!
• A good rain coat that is not only water proof but warm!
• A good camera - mine finally kicked the bucket while I was there, so I don't have many photos and had to resort to a cell phone while there (blegh).
• UK plug converter...no, your North American/EU one (or other country) will not fit :).
• An empty suit case for all the goodies you buy at Pound Land or Pound World...and it's not full of things that will fall apart after using them once or twice!! There were brand named items and even the non-brand name stuff (i.e. children socks as we forgot to bring some!) were pretty decent quality!

We stayed at the Church Guest House, which was a nice 10-15 minutes walk from the downtown area.  The host, Andrew, was very friendly and nice and gave us lots of tips on where to visit while we were there.

However, there are some pit falls to the Church Guest House that maybe one travelling with little family members should know about:

• There is a continental breakfast included (cereal, fruit, nuts, yoghurt and hot toast with jam/butter, and tea/coffee or juice) but they do not have high chairs or booster seats...(yet they have a play pen? Keep reading...)
• We stored our stroller in the breakfast dining room and just kept our children there while we had breakfast the first morning.
• A hot breakfast is available at extra cost, but we found it cheaper to eat at local pubs/caf�s for breakfast.
• It's ideal to let the staff know that your child has any kind of condition that may cause them to be louder "than the average child".  Guests above us had complained that our son was too loud - and yes, he did yell quite a bit, and we tried our hardest (covering his mouth, letting him watch Cars a million times, playing his favourite Youtube channel all night, Simplynoise.com - ANYTHING to calm him down) to keep the noise to a minimum at night time - but sometimes crap happens.
  When I advised Andrew that our son has Autism and that we are trying our hardest - he understood and I assume - advised the guests above us - so they knew we weren't trying to make their vacation a horrible time...we didn't have any more complaints after that.
• Hot water in the shower didn't last long - hubby took a 10 minute shower maximum - and I didn't have any hot water after him...and when you turn on the hot water, you have to wait a bit for it to kick in...like brush your teeth then the water is hot enough.
• Bring your own shampoo and body wash - or pick some up at the Pound shop - the samples in the bathroom were kind of small for 4 of us and my hair just didn't feel clean after...but that's personal choice!

• The mattresses are approximately 2 weeks old (as of our travel dates of June 12-17, 2013) and they are not protected by mattress protection covers.  
• We found this out the hard way, when our 3.5 year old leaked out of his diaper due to stress of a new environment and travel (he is Autistic) - and despite peeling the blankets back, the smell of urine and the wet hand towel (that we used to soak up his mess) left on the bathroom floor intentionally so it could be changed - it wasn't.  We ended up stripping the bed the next day and putting ALL the towels on the floor with the bed sheets and were happy to see everything was changed the following day.  (We also did not file a complaint in person in case you are wondering - but did find it quite gross - even though the bed sheet and mattress were dry that night).
• When we did strip the bed, the host advised us that the mattresses were less than 2 weeks old and that they would have to be cleaned.  Of course, I agree and would be willing to pay the fee (but we were never advised of any additional fees - despite seeing the host every day at some point) - but I am curious if the mattresses are so new - why aren't there protection covers??  I mean - mattresses are expensive and these were super comfortable ones too!  I would want mine to last a long time - especially when a new person sleeps on it every day or week...
• We were issued a play pen for the child who peed (since we have two - I guess they assumed it was the younger one who did it?) the bed and we just kept it folded up in the corner - because there was no way a 3.5 (almost 4!) year old was going to fit in that play pen...let alone stay in it without making a fuss.
• Some things to also consider when having people sleep on a mattress (with a bed sheet) and no protection covers: 
• Sweat can soak through and stink up a mattress easily.
• Dirt - enough said.
• Flu/Viruses/Colds - think coughing, snot, leaky nose, sweating from chills...usually happens when one goes on vacation!
• Pee - not just little kids that wet the bed.
• Poop - same deal.
• Blood - nose bleed, menstrual cycles, miscarriages, scrapes and bumps, cracked feet...
• Sex - let's face it - it's a B&B and people go on honeymoons and vacations and anniversary trips and if the mood strikes - well...sex is just as dirty as pee.
• Bed bugs...

Those are just some things to consider as I said - but really, the Church Guest House (it's not religious inside - no worries if you're not religious yourself) is a lovely place, the staff friendly and the place in a good location (there was a big playground about 10 minutes the opposite direction from downtown).
We would definitely go back - without children (mostly because they are fighters and travelling with kids can be quite difficult for us!).

Onto the rest of Wales.

We enjoyed "proper English breakfasts" (my photos from my phone will be transferred to Pinterest at some point this week...) which consisted of:

• Fried eggs
• Toast
• Baked beans
• Tomato and mushroom (depends where you go)
• Hash browns (so greasy and crispy and delicious...)
• Welsh bacon (not the skinny pieces you get in the shops - but nice wide chunks of bacon...salty and smokey ....and doesn't have a parallel chunk of blubbery fat attached to it)
• Sausages
• English tea of course!

We managed to explore Wales a bit and got on a train to Caerphilly to explore the castle there.  It was nice and big, lots of landscape and geese!
But in the shop - no post cards...tsk tsk.

One restaurant we ate at was "The Golden Corner" in Cardiff.
Food was tasty but there were a couple pit falls to eating there:

1. Cash only.
2. The menu said we would get 3 sticky rice (wrapped in lotus leaves - a Dim Sum specialty) and we only got 2 for some reason.
3. I asked our waitress twice for a glass of ice water (since I planned on eating some dumplings with chili sauce) and she never brought it.  So I ended up going to the counter and asking for it myself...

Definitely check out The Works book shop!  They had a huge 80% off sale when I was there and I ended up scoring 2 knitting books for 3 and 2� each...and it turned out they were a lot more expensive on Amazon or Book Depository!

So if you ever get the chance - definitely pop into Wales!

Finland and The Box...

Finland is quickly making the news again and it's in reference to a BBC article: "Why Finnish Babies sleep in cardboard boxes".

I'm sure the concept of sticking your new baby that you waited MONTHS for into a cardboard box sounds absolutely dreadful but when you think about it - a crib is a type of box.  Putting your baby in your own bed with you and surrounding them on all four sides so they don't fall off - is boxing them in...
Remember, you need the sleep and if you don't have a crib yet or haven't decided if Junior will sleep with you in your bed (pretty common in Europe) - this box is MEANT for being a bed!
And you're not shipping your kid in this box... :)

What are the other benefits of this box?

Well, everything that comes IN the box is pretty sweet.
I've already written a blog post about what comes in the Kela maternity box - which can be found here.

Every year the prints change a bit but the basics are all the same.

Yes, we did end up letting our newborn sleep in that box and it was fantastic.  He slept soundly in it for about a month or so and it was handy because it didn't take up as much space as a traditional crib.  Nor was he in our bed, which was nice too.
Oh and if we had to move rooms and worried about not being able to keep an eye on him or hearing him when he woke up - we just picked up the box and moved him easily.

And when he was too big for the box - we used it to hold A LOT of dishes when we moved to our current flat!  It's a very tough box.
And you can apparently buy covers for the box to make it look nicer - about 35� from what I've seen online!  (Or you could get all scrapbook/crafty on it and go to town decorating it yourself!)

What does the 2013 box look like?  Check it out here - and wow is that box nice!  It appears to have a Family Tree design on top....