Linnea 'Ea' quilts...

It just like they say, ”I had such great plans, and then...” In my case, it involved a bus. A small toy one, thankfully, but those Fisher Price yellow school busses sure are HEAVY. I’m talking about this one, specifically: In the back you can see my Defiant quilt top, just waiting to be sandwiched. THAT was what I actually had planned for the evening. I had backing and batting ready to go, I had gotten all the prep work done ahead of the evening’s sewing course. Instead, I got to do this: Spend a few hours at the ER. (If you’re Finnish, that waiting number is funny, because the emergency number in Finland is 112. Just like the States have 911.) Anyway, what happened was that my 3 yo son threw the bus on me. Specifically, the toe closest to my big toe on my left foot. And I’m sitting here, just hoping it isn’t broken, but even so it hurts like a ... Here’s to hoping your Thursday evening is a bit better than mine!

This Friday didn’t start out so well. I slipped a disc in my spine when I was helping the kids getting dressed in the morning. The ambulance that came had to give me intravenous morphine via drip just to get me (trying not to scream too much from the pain) down our stairs in a wheelchair, since getting me out strapped to a stretcher wouldn’t have worked. Doctor at the hospital gave me 2 weeks of sick-leave. Since this is the second time for me getting a slipped disc, I know it will take longer (waaaay longer) than that to get better. So, instead of me getting to sit down on Friday and Saturday night with some peaceful handstitching, I get to spend some time in the hospital instead. Here’s to hoping your weekend started out better than mine! P.S. I saved the two empthy drip bags I got, just so my kids can get to play doctor with them on the dolls and teddies at home :P

We (that is, me and the kids) have been home now for a while with the "daycare flu". I've been unable to use my sewing machine, because I've been feeling too tired and achy. My nose has been runny, so of course my asthma makes itself known by lots of mucus in my lungs. The kids have been coughing too. *sigh* But, I did manage to get a few things done.

I was feeling really flu-crappy three days ago. Taking care of oneself comes kinda second when the kids have the flu too. *sigh* Anyway, I was cleaning out stuff from the cutting table, since I had gotten those place-mats and towels done. And I found a small baggie with already fussy cut small Christmas blocks. So, I took the leftover natural white I had used on my Rainbow quilt, and found some matching reds, and made some not-quite-economy blocks. And no, I had no idea what to do with them. Next day, I squared them up and placed them on the design wall and tried to figure out what I could do with them. I quickly realized that unless I wanted a Christmas-themed baby quilt, it needed more blocks. I pieced together some from the small leftovers I had. (I think I managed okay with this one, the seam runs straight through the center) So...after having gone through my novelty fabrics for Christmas themed ones in green-white-red, I found one with present...

Summer vacation is supposed to be just that. Vacation during the summer. But when your body gets the summer flu, things change. What was supposed to be vacation gets turned into a boring sleeping sneezing not-meeting-your-relatives kind of vacation. And trying cure your flu while trying to get some sleep in a bed that's not your own. But there is a silver lining here - being ill in a different town means that you can explore the content of books at the local library. Getting a library card wasn't that hard either, and thay didn't even look funnily at the "small pile of books" I wanted to borrow either. Only flip side with them is that I already read them all, and now I want more. I wonder if someone in the family have time to go with me to the library again today...? Small pile of books, tea and a packet of tissues.

There's this joke that goes like this: ...so the undertaker said: "I wanted to change jobs and become a chimney sweeper, but I just couln't stop coffin! With this joke, I'm telling you folks that I'm getting back into bed. The way we're both coughing here at home, Micke and me, I guess it's only for our own good to just rest. Thank the goddess we did have enough energy to go shopping for toilet paper! Now that - and more tissue paper! - were sorely missed for 2 days... You should see my nose; it looks like it has had a bad acid peel. Drinking warm blackcurrant juice. It feels like it (and tea!) has been on the "menu" now for far too long.

First post of the new year 2011. In the kitchen, coffee is being brewed for Micke. I've cleaned up, a little, and done some of the dishes. In the living room, Micke is lying on the brown sofa, reading the second book in the Millenium-trilogy. He's got a headache, and has been feeling cold all morning. Not that I can see how that's possible, with all the socks/blankets/pillows around him. The waste basket beside him on the floor is slowly being filled with used tissues. His nose is like Rudolf's. In the bathroom, the washing machine is humming. There's at least 4 more loads of laundry that needs to be done. Most of it is bed linen. Fever is not nice. The whole house desperately needs to be cleaned, but  I'm going to go easy on myself and NOT start doing  that now. I need to get better first. Until then, the dust can rejoice and have parties in every corner and under the sofas. Little do they know...  *evil little smile* In other words, new year is a Sat...

Happy New Year everyone, great and small! Do you feel any different at all? Ah, "Death cab for cutie" says it all in their song "New Year". We here at home will be spending this last day of the year, as well as the first of the new, by sitting in the sofa/lying on the bed and resting. Micke's fever is an on/off thing, and he's coughing and nose dripping so much he's having trouble sleeping. Me, I'm mostly just tired. Major tired. Anyway, enjoy the fireworks you see tonight. We here will be gazing through the window and see half of what Turku city is shooting up into the sky. The other half will not show, since the home for the elderly across the street will block that out.

Oh dear, Micke apparently caught the flu someone was spreading around like crazy on the train back from Ostrobothnia. (read: someone was coughing ALL the time on the train in our compartment) Now he's got a such a sore throat I've told him not to speak. It's painful to hear him say even so little as " it hurts ". Awful. And on top of that, he's got a fever. He became symptomatic yesterday noon. And this morning, I started to feel awful too. I got up at 08:30, had to cancel my only morning-appointment, wrote an email to people saying "we might have to skip the New Year get-together at our place" and went back to bed. And slept until 15:00. While I slept, I dreamt a somewhat crazy dream about: My Mom celebrating her 70th birthday. In Sweden, at one of my aunt's places. Me coloring my hair, because Mom said I had too. I did it while being very pregnant, which meant it was a chore. While doing this, Micke came along and also wanted his ha...

... an umbrella doesn't help you much. The rain is blowing ever which way, even downwards up, so you get soaked nearly instantly. It's more like walking into a wall of water, instead of it raining. Why, oh whyyy, didn't I put on my rain coat and pants? No matter now, as I got home and could change into something dry immediately. Micke still has the flu, and has been both coughing and blowing his nose like crazy. He actually woke me up at 3 a.m., because his cough sounded like him dying. Horrible. Thanks to the rain though, lots of different mushrooms are growing splendidly. The ones on the photo above is from the lawn on the other side of the green fence. In swedish, these mushrooms are called "bläcksvamp", lit. translated as ink mushrooms. Did people really use them to make ink, I wonder? But, now I'm going to go and lie down, and enjoy as much orange juice and Daim-chocolate as I can. The chocolate has to be shared with Micke, but since he was so s...

I can't believe I nearly fainted as I rose from the dinnertable just minutes ago. Or maybe collapsed is a better word. Is just got up, but my legs wouldn't hold my weight, and so i just fell in a heap on the floor. Scared Micke somewhat horribly too; he had to pick me up and carry me to bed. It started last Thursday, with slight fever and throwing up Now, if this was just a normal case of summer flu, I'd be okey 3 days afterwards, right? So why aren't I? I'm feeling excausted all the time, with barely enough energy to move around. Like a great preassure inside my cheast, making every step and breath a chore. I have so many things to do: chores, plant the kitchen garden I want to have, and some school-stuff. But I can't, since I'm just tired ALL the time, and it's starting to scare me. I'll have to get a doctor's appointment tomorrow, see if they can tell me what this is...

... takes you to real stupid places. I've had influenza since Thursday evening, and since I always get so tired when I'm sick, I usually just sleep. Sleep, try to drink some water, don't eat any, and then sleep some more. Today's the first day I even feel clear-headed enough to use the computer for anything creative. Anyway, last night I dreamt that I was standing on the porch of my family's summer cottage. My Mom was there, and some other people too (don't remember who though). The whole dirt road before the house was mushy, kinda like how it gets in spring when the snow melts and all the water doesn't drain away quickly enough. So, I'm standing there, and suddenly I see that the mud is crawling with leaches. As in HUGE leaches. Big as my arm. Black and gray in coloring. And one is slithering its way towards my Mom's ankle, and is about to latch on. So, I run inside the house, and apparently manage to find the red axe* in the green bureau. I tak...

It's funny how clear life suddenly becomes when you wake up at 5 a.m. and just *know* that eventually you're going to have to run to the bathroom to throw up. Your body is telling your mind - in no nonsense terms - that this will eventually have to happen. So you plead with yourself, you take shallow breaths, you DON'T think about food, picture a sea of calm white when you close your eyes and you try to hold on.... but then comes the point when enough is just enough, and you lurch/run/crawl to the bathroom. (This latter is sometimes done with various degrees of success... As evident that one time with Micke and the TV) Since this happened early in the morning (hello! 5 a.m!), and I'm a generally decent human being, I didn't want to wake up Micke while I did all of this... activity. So, I left out the lights, and closed the bathroom door. He managed to sleep through all the ... activity ... and even the shower I had to take afterwards, because I felt like crap and ...

Much has happened since I last wrote anything. We attended the beautiful wedding of Mattias and Josefine in Porvoo. That weekend was really great, and really taxing. I so hope they like the present we gave them! There's a photo of them down below, if you scroll a bit. I went to the library some more, I installed some new apps on my phone, me+Micke+Thomas went to see the movie " Invictus ". Great movie, even though I'm not a rugby fan. My birthday and it's birthday party came and went, and I got the flu because of it. Never dance with a lot of people in a room with bad air conditioning if your immune system is cut to crap. So, sick again, and this time is made med miss Lent (fastlagen). I didn't get to spend time with my friends at school, eating the traditional peasoup and eating "fastlagsbullar" with both jam and almond paste. Yupp, have to have both. Otherwise, what's the point of gorging yourself? But, I missed it, and I missed the whole ...

I hate being sick or ill, since every time I do get sick I get REALLY sick. Same phenomenon this time too: stomach flu! Woke up this morning, felt really weird, managed to drink half a glass of water, and then... *iuh* Well, let's just say that it's not nice. Only thing that consoles me is that I only ran a fever for like 3-4 hours, and if the stomach wouldn't tell me REPEATEDLY that it feels awful, this would be pretty much okay. Only thing is, there's not much on the TV tonight. And Micke is on the Christmas party his office is throwing at Kupittaan Paviljonki , so he'll be home late. Probably really late. Talked a while with people on MSN and Facebook, but it's just not the same. It's booooooring being sick. I wish a speedy recovery for EVERYONE being sick at this very moment.

h man, I just HAVE to tell you how unlucky we were on Saturday! After celebrating the very non-typical Halloween at a great student-party on Friday, we didn't have any * cough * extra energy to spend on making dinner on Saturday. So, we went out. And decided that Italian-type food would be nice. Close to the market square is the restaurant Frank Benelli's , which serves Italian-American food. So far so good. We ordered starters (bruschetta) and main course (pizza + chicken) and then proceeded to wait for ONE AND A HALF HOURS (!) until we got them. As compensation, offered with not-quite-so-sincere apologies from the kitchen, we got free dessert. Nice! So I ordered Sweet Lime Cheesecake, and Micke ordered a sort of haute couture ice-cream creation. And the kitchen still managed to GET THAT ORDER WRONG, so Micke got another type of ice-cream thingy. What should have taken a max. of 1 h instead took 3, and on top of it all we missed the movie we wanted to go and see, and I g...

Because when I is, I feel so totally dead. Oh boy, every muscle hurt. HAD to attend first lecture in course 'Cell signaling' today, so I dragged my sorry ass to school and sat - and even discussed! - and 'attended' as much as was needed. And now, I lie here - in bed - and feelt totally dead. Go me!