Linnea 'Ea' quilts...

It's an unwritten rule that people are supposed to read the magazines that you find at your hairdresser, when you are sitting in their domain. * fact of life * Still, there is only so much Cosmopolitan or Me Naiset etc. that I manage to stomach before the laughter in my brain wants to make it out through my mouth. I mean, how am I supposed to read articles concerning "How to survive when your BFF grows up" or "Är din karl en mussla" (srsly! the last one is from the Swedish Cosmo, the December issue). I just had to quit before I made a fool of my self... I still have the worlds best hairdresser , though! I'll defend her with the steel in my sharp wit and the hard heels of my stilettos if needed   :) So, after partaking in the urban ritual that gets my hair to look nice again, I went to the library. Just to look, mind you. And I came home with the books you can see in the picture.... Finally! A copy of Stephenie Meyer's book "The Host" j...

... is also Chicken soup for the soul. (Hah! Thus making a pun of me eating chicken soup, and this phenomenon ). Yep, I use pink Post-Its. Heart-shaped. Also, the weather outside is really nice today, look!

Woolly mammoth, nuts, berries, some water perhaps? And how would this differ from the things that "normal" monkeys eat? Homo sapiens as a species has had about 10 000 years (since the last interglacial period) to become what we are today. And still we are so much like our ancestors. Only with an addition of antibiotics, dietary supplements, more sterile living and city dust. Anyway, there is (apparently) a community found online that came some time ago to the conclusion that maybe we should be eating in accordance with how our ancestors did, 10 000 or so years ago. When a diet made up of mostly fats, proteins and only some sugars were "the" diet of choice. Query : If man hasn't changed physiologically very much in 10 000 years... then why are we eating as if we really have? This online community of people decided that "this won't do", and promptly went "paleo" (from the word "paleolitic"). If you check out Wikipedia for ...

Guess what folks: I managed yesterday to glue together two fingers on my right hand.... *sigh* The experience can be summarized very aptly using Mimi's advice: "Using gloves when you're using super-glue is reeeeeally smart". Yupp, my middle and ring finger can attest to that. Such a fail of epic proportions. And it really hurt getting them to come off one another. Lost some skin in the process. Yuck! Anyway, we managed to make jewellery for perhaps a few hours more than we should have.... We packed away everything at about 24:00, making Mimi definitely miss her last bus. Micke happily played some computer game, so even though I had asked him to kindly come and tell us when it would have been time to stop (22:00), he forgot. And we forgot, so apparently time is really very relative :) I taught Mimi how to make/knot pearls into a necklace, and what a star pupil she made! I started making a new one too - this time in red - after the mishap with the glue. So, today...

... I was going to get ill. Seriously, it felt like the beginning of a fever. Today however, I feel.... not so sick and not so warm as yesterday. Whatever it was, I hope it doesn't return with vengeance tonight! Anyway, tomorrow some of the girls are supposed to come over, since I decided to host an "arts and crafts" evening. Last time it was just me and Sally... and (a few) midnight margaritas. That time, the "crafting" took over the dining-room table completely. (See the picture below if you don't believe me). Anyway, this time is going to be similar, as I've planned for us to continue with the same theme. Jewellery. We'll see if we have enough creativity to go around - but if we don't, then we'll just talk girl-talk and relax. Last - as well as this - week, when I've had some spare time, I've been surfing the net for "creative ideas" concerning jewellery. It's amazing how much you can find online, from DIY-manu...

...and IKEA is partly to blame! We have this "Leksvik" dresser in our bedroom. It's a nice and ordinary sort of dresser I guess. I bought it when I first moved to Turku (in 2001...) and it's been hanging on ever since. When me and Micke moved in together, we painted it brown (it used to be 'oldies grey') because otherwise our bedroom's theme of red & dark brown & white would n't have been. Anyway, I've taken apart this dresser quite a few times, and me and Micke have taken it apart at least twice, so now it's getting "rusty in the seams" so to speak. There's a wooden peg at the front of the lowest drawer that comes loose ALL the time now. It's highly annoying, because when it does, you can't get the drawer to close. And on top of it, it feels as if the dresser is LAUGHING you in the face because you can't get it in. So annoying, to say the least. I've glued the peg twice - won't hold btw - and I...

My family, and I think most of my friends as well, knows that I have lactose intolerance. I have friends who are too, and many times have we laughed at our good fortune in the matter. Living in Finland gives you one HUGE advantage in having this dietary deficiency: the innovation of LACTOSE FREE dairy products :) When I was little (as in kinder garden and elementary school little) all you could get was milk with some of the lactose enzymatically hydrolyzed, making it more tolerable for people like me. Or actually, SOME of the people like me. Some people (like me!) can't even stomach dairy products marked HYLA or Into (the trade names for these hydrolyzed products). That's why it's soooooooooo sweet that finnish scientists came up with a way to make lactose free milk :) * me likes! * Anyway, when me and Micke went grocery shopping yesterday, I found out that now you can get Organic Lactose Free Milk (zomg!!!) from our favorite store k-Puhakka. * me likes even more! ...

Today's the 13th of January, and by tradition all Christmas decorations have an invisible "best before 13.1" sticker. So, in accordance with tradition, this is the last day we'll have " our Miss Christmas tree 2009 " in the living room. Finally, there will be no more spruce needles stuck under our socks. * looks at the Christmas tree * But I think I'm still going to miss it. I mean, it WAS mine and Micke's first own Christmas tree. First REAL Christmas together. * gets a bit emotional * Aw well, I think the best way to get it out and into the trash is to use the wire-cutter and demolish it into smaller pieces first. Otherwise there'll be too many needles in the stairwell and the elevator. And I don't wanna clean them up.

I knew I should have written this down immediately afterwards the " event " itself, but I still think I can sum it up pretty decently. I managed to keep quiet for 24 h and 17 min . The only 'mistakes' I made was to snort a "hah!" at a book I was reading, and say "sheesh" at a thing that spooked me. Oh, and I laughed. Once. First, being without a voice (sound) doesn't make you able NOT to communicate . In fact, suddenly you start to come up with all of these OTHER ways to tell people something. I didn't use Facebook or MSN, in fact all I wrote down the entire day was a shopping list together with Micke. But I did draw a few pictures, point at different things, and nod or shake my head when Micke suggested stuff. I even whistled once, just to attract his attention, when I noticed that he doesn't register all that well when I wave at him. Secondly , because I did it on a Sunday, there wasn't really that much interactions I needed to ma...

In the legend of King Arthur, one of the stories is about how  " a woman's highest wish is to be able to decide for herself ". What more could anyone ask, but to be able to choose for yourself? To always be yourself. - me

People make promises at New Year's Eve. Some people even make more than one. I make one that I'm sure to strive for every single day during the year. And then I re-promise it at the next New Year. *won't tell you what it is though, it's my secret* Anyway, this year I also made a few other CHOICES. Not promises, mind you. Choices. I want to see - for a period of 24 hours - how you can live without some of your senses. Yes, you have it right - sight, hearing, smell, voice... The senses I think I can come up with a way too do without. I've read that sensory deprivation can make you mad. Because the mind cracks from being without stimuli. It is supposed to turn inwards, and create its own stimuli, making you go crazy from it. Anyway, in 30 minutes it will be Sunday, and then I will be silent. It will be hard to uphold, since ANYONE who knows me knows that I love to talk and chatter. I think I'll try hard also NOT to use any other means of communication (Facebook, MS...

Have you guys tried out Rock Band yet? The student association my Micke belongs too have it on their X-box in their lair in the basement of the ICT-house. It's even better than Sing Star or Guitar Hero I tell you :) You get to try out your skills with the vocals, the drums, the guitar or the bass. So far, I've tried vocals and the bass, mainly 'cause others (who have more skills than me on the instruments!) have hogged the drums and the lead guitar. Customizing the game is easy - new songs can be bought online, and if the X-box still have some memory left over (:P) you can create your own profile (musician) to rock on with. Mine looks a little like me - the short brown hair and perky attitude, but she dresses in pink (!), which I NEVER do. This 'cause "her" band name is Oink's Pink P ! The band logo is a pink little pig with a space opera lady for a rider... Now that's some serious therapy for you!

First, I need to say that here at us we had a really nice Christmas dinner (at the 24th), and we even had Thomas over as a guest :) My cooking got compliments from both men, so I dare say it must have been fairly decent chow :P I did "my" version of the classical Finnish Christmas dinner servings and casseroles as follows: 1. turkey - instead of the ham 2. sweet potato - instead of the traditional baked potato casserole 3. pumpkin pie - instead of my family's traditional oven baked apple and prunes I gots looots of Christmas pressies! Micke liked the ones I gave him (Nokia X6 phone + 3000 pieces puzzle of the world)., and I think Thomas liked the "keypete" I had found for him. Although it doesn't look like much, this little key holder actually has a REALLY strong magnet in its "paw" It even could hold up (for a few seconds anyway) my christmas-pressie cast-iron cooking pan! I was so relieved that Micke liked his puzzle (actually, I think...

Let me see now.... Have I missed anything? 1. Food for tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that - CHECK 2. Presents for everyone fixed and sent - CHECK 3. Christmas cards sent to people - CHECK 4. Last minute Christmas cleaning + do the dishes - not yet done 5. Christmas trees fixed and decorated - CHECK 6. Clothes washed and "party" clothes for 24th and 31st fixed - CHECK 7. Remembering to unwind - not yet done *looks at the list* Well, 5 out of 7 ain't that bad... right? And besides, Micke said he'll take care of the dishes. But why does is STILL feel like I've forgotten something? Like, you know - something HUGE and MEGA IMPORTANT and CAN'T DO CHRISTMAS WITHOUT IT. Except the ham *iuh* 'cause we won't have ham this year. We'll have turkey, because my stomach can handle it better :) If I notice (which...

Oh my, I say like my cousin Saga: what a busy week! I've managed to clean the whole house, gotten my new glases from Instru, put the Christmas cards in the mail, hold a taco/tortilla dinner, buy and fix some Christmas presents, make chocolate truffles and get exhausted in the process. *sheeesh* I'm going to summarize the week in pics for you, mainly because I think pics are nice to look at :) Mimi came over because I had an idea about how to make her some hat boxes. I got the cardboard from the trash container at school, and after we had gotten them bent (using a rolling pin I might add!) into the right shape we coated them in papier maché . The glue took 2 days to dry, but afterwards we could base paint them with a basic white acrylic paint. I have to ask Mimi to provide me with some pics of how they look once she finished decorating them. Doing crafts is fun, and I used up some of my creativity creating some Christmas present jewellry and base painting a wooden box (t...

... I thought I'd catch up with making my Christmas wish list. Actually, Micke has been... well, not NAGGING, but politely reminded me at least twice that he wants me to make a list of possible presents he could get me for Christmas. Christmas ain't r-e-a-l-l-y about giving presents... right? Just because it's NICE to get presents, and nice to give them too (the last part only applies if you can afford them, sadly), doesn't mean that's all that Christmas is about. This capitalistic shopping-frenzied holiday (and that's sooo what my Dad would say) used to be about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, and before that it was about Yule and the celebration of the "returning" sun via the winter solstice . So, in honor of this, I'm wishing for: 1. Yarn , preferably in 'happy' colors like sunny yellow and lime-green 2. More tealights! And these can be those cheap white ones, since our candle holders are the ones providing the color...

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.

Yesterday, me and Micke went to the restaurant Kerttu to have a piece of the famous "hamburger buffé". Yum! Micke ate four (!) hamburgers while I ate some goat cheese salad. What, no hamburgers for me? No, sadly no burgers for me, as my stomach has this thing against paprika (among a whole lot of other things....). So, sadly, no hamburgers for me :/ On our walk to Kerttu, we took a detour via the newly opened Christmas market. No snow, but the feeling of good-will was everywhere. The Christmas market is going to be held from this weekend every Saturday and Sunday, until Christmas. People were selling crafts, arts, snacks and other things. I even took a video of the Christmas market, the part held at "Gamla Stortorget". After eating at Kerttu, we arrived back to the market just in time to hear them declare the traditional "Christmas peace" and light the great tree in front of the cathedral. They had a short Christmas play on the stage, and as t...