Fridge magnets

In August 2000 DH and I were visiting friends in Scotland. DH played a lot of golf, but we did some sightseeing, too. Once after a lovely walk in a beautiful garden I wanted to stop at the tourist shop to have a look. DH wanted to move on and said something about them selling just "stupid fridge magnets". Being a woman I got really upset that I can't spend 15 minutes just looking around and he can spend 5 hours on the golf course. Hey, it was almost 7 years ago and I still remember!!! And so does my friend. I told her about this "amicable" conversation we had and ever since whenever she and her husband are travelling they do their best to find the tackiest fridge magnet possible and send it to us. Ooh, it's so funny.

This is what my friends husband gave to me. Hmm, it made me think.

This fridge magnet was made by some Scottish artesan. It's made of steel. In my opinion it looks like some kind of a "pet" you could get in the hairy parts of your body. Itchy. And this is what I want to see on my fridge door...

We also have a genuine Spanish bull, a dolphin, a daisy, a Highland cow, a Scot playing the bag pipe, a beer can, a shark, a frog ..... all from our friends in Scotland!

This one I bought myself. I could use a few of these pills.

A tired blogger

Oh boy, I'm tired, look at the bags under my eyes. Well, I guess it's only natural for a working mother of 3 boys to be exhausted. And if you stay up late blogging, this is the result:Tuomas wanted to take a picture of me sitting on the floor. Being just 3 he didn't understand that you have to press the button all the way down for the camera to take the picture. I pressed the button for him, that's why my arm is stretched towards the camera man.

Luckily I had a massage appointment tonight. Kaisa really knows how to make your tense muscles relax! Thanks, Kaisa!

Tomorrow we're off to the country side to DH's aunt for 5 days. Excellent food, relaxation, playing outside with the boys and 3 dogs and going horseback riding. My looks might improve in 5 days... hopefully.

UFO's

Ok, due to request, the picture of my cross stich I started 9 years ago. I wanted to have it finished before our wedding in September 1998. I came across the pattern on the internet, and my friend Melanie (Hwyl, fy ffrind) sent me the pattern, floss and the canvas for Christmas 1997. I got pretty far, we got married,but a lot of white remains still after all these years undone. A couple of years ago I said that I'll finish it by our 10th anniversary. I'll be in a hurry.

Joanne, also from the US, gave me fabric for a beautiful log cabing quilt. The fabric is so soft, the colors beautiful and I've started it. But..... quilting (at least for me) is something that needs a lot of concentration. Not something you do with the boys helping. The last time I worked on it I noticed that I had cut the strips slightly diagonally. It annoyed me so much that I had to stop. I want it to be perfectly straight! But once I get the cabinets in my (oops, our) utility room (please note this, DH), it will be a lot easier for me to work there.... and iron our clothes.

A picture of the vintage UFO my mother started in the 60's. I have serious doubts I'll ever finish it.

The edge of the vintage UFO table cloth is very beautiful! And it has taken a lot of time, I guess. My mom should really finish it!

Jogging

I've started jogging. I hate it, but I do my best to convince myself that it's good for me. But I still hate it. A couple of my colleagues go jogging during the lunch break on Wednesdays and I've joined them. Yesterday we jogged (i.e. moved so slowly that it looks pathetic..) towards our boys' daycare. I knew they'd be outside playing so we jogged past the playground. I saw only Risto, said 'hi' to him and carried on. Risto was really confused to see me. He quickly asked me what I'm doing. I told him I was jogging (obviously our 'moving around in a slow pace' didn't look like jogging). This did not make it any more clear to him. In the evening he told DH about seeing me during the day and asked:"Did Mom escape from work?"
This picture has nothing to do with the text above. I just thought that the post would look boring without a picture. This is Risto in Curacao, February 2007.

Flowers and food

You should've seen Risto's face when he handed me this cute little bouquet of wood anemones. "Happy Mothers' Day!" (I didn't correct him that Mothers' Day is on May 13th). He was so happy, so proud and he knew that he'd make me happy.
A beautiful bouquet on our beautiful dinner table. Looks wonderful when you zoom in. But more interesting is what you see when you zoom out. Ha-haa, reality!!! This is what you're supposed to show on your blog. See the wood anemones middle of table.
The comments of the Finnish jury at the dinner didn't make me happy. Tuomas quite bluntly informed me that he didn't like it, he only ate his cucumber pieces, cherry tomatoes and broccoli. But Jaakko, being just 17 months, is a man of action, not of words, as you can see.
Comments of the Finnish jury: zero points!!!

Flowers

I should post beautiful pictures, too. My friend gave me this flower for my 26th birthday a week ago (it was my 9th 26th birthday). She knows I love orange gerberas. Thank you, Maija! Behind it is our kitchen wall. I painted it with black board paint. The boys love drawing on it. I should've taken a picture of the fern we had in our bathroom upstairs. It was quite crispy and brown. There were some green parts, but they were crispy, too. I stared at it every day since January, first wondering whether or not it is beyond saving i.e. is there any point in wasting water on it. And eventually wondering if some fairy godmother would take it away during the night so that I wouldn't have to bother to do it. Alas, nothing happened. It stayed crispy and turning even more brown. On Saturday I finally threw it into our compost with the 3 orchids that had suffered too in my care. Actually one of them started to bloom again, which made me really happy. But not happy enough to water it, so it died.

Brotherly love

Jaakko happy with his bottle. Or he looks happy. Actually he's bored and needs attention and some noise.
Ok, it looks like he's giving Tuomas a hug, but he's actually biting his innocent big brother who's eating and minding his own business.
Tuomas. His soul hurts more than his back. But, boy, can he scream. And Jaakko knows it, too. That's why he keeps teasing his big brother. And mommy grabs the camera. I wonder if they'll need therapy when they're grownups.

Crafts

I have started to wonder whether or not I'm ADHD. I'm unable to concentrate on one single thing. I start a million projects and 999 999 of them end up as UFO's (UnFinished Object). I think this is hereditary, since my mother gave me a table cloth she started to do black work embroidery on. A quarter of it is done, and that was way back in the 1960's.

I'm surprised that my DH (Dear Husband) has not lost his nerve with me. I took some pictures of my UFO's.... or should I call them WIP's (Work In Progress). This is only a fraction of them...

Before looking at these pictures I want to explain something. I'm not trying to give you a false impression by taking pictures of a tidy, clean home because that is so far from reality. Our house is a mess. Things are piled on tables, the piano, on counter tops, on the floor and all 4 boys do their best to help me keep the chaos in constant motion. People should pay surprise visits to their friends and see the "ugly truth" (hi there, Outi!). Actually what I'm saying that you're welcome to knock on our door anytime (I usually unplug the doorbell since our boys enjoy ringing it too much), you need to knock quite loudly.

And on your left, on top of the oranges, a Sophie bag I started this weekend. And on your right, in a red Christmas basket that has been waiting for 4 months to be put away, a stranded ball of orange wool. I have about 7-8 balls of this orange wool. No more than 2 are in the same place.

This Booga Bag (finished in 2005... yes, I have finished something) contains calbe needles and yarn for a rug (my own design). I bought the supplies in a hurry in September 2006, I wanted to start working on it immediately. Something happened (life, I guess) and started it just a month or so ago.

Inside this yellow bag is a lace scarf I started knitting about 1.5 years ago. I carry it with me to work now. Why? I don't have time to knit at work, I drive to work so I can't knit then.... why.... I guess I'd feel lonely without it.

Corner of the utility room. Marimekko fabrics. I have a cunning plan here. I try to keep it as messy as possible, so that DH would understand that I need cabinets there. Utility room without cabinets.... all I can say that architects obviously don't need them. (I wonder if it was smart of me to tell about my plan. DH reads this blog, too. Maybe he won't notice....)

Activity

Eric and Joanne, our US grandparents, have given our boys 2 wonderful floor puzzles. I doubt they knew that one can also jump over them!Jaakko was eager to help. This was in September, 2006.Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. Jack jump over the can... fire truck floor puzzle.And Tuomas can do it, too.
Risto looks like a professional ski jumper!

Comments

I've changed the settings of this blog (hopefully) and now it should be possible even for non-registered readers to comment. If you don't want to do it publicly, you can always send me e-mail. I'd love to hear from you!

Scary and ugly. Hey, I'm a mother of 3 boys. That explains it all!

Parents

I got a request that it would be nice to see the parents faces, too. Well, here they are.

This was taken by Risto. Our second night in Curacao, February 2007. Jet-lagged.
Happy faces after our second dive in Curacao, February 2007. Diving is fun, but scary. This was the second time we dived. The first one was over 8 years ago on our honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef.

Food and sleep

That's what small boys need inorder to grow. And these boys like their food. If Risto and Tuomas are given the choice between hamburgers and sushi, they'll go for the Japanese delicacy. But definately without wasabi. One sushi dinner was ruined since I forgot to order it without wasabi and the boys refused to eat even though I scraped everything off. But it is hot stuff! And the boys don't just eat 3-4 pieces. More like 10 and then they start looking at our plates! Jaakko isn't into sushi, yet, but he can easily have 2 bananas, huge portion of porridge, 4 dl of milk and some bread for breakfast. I'm not looking forward to those 3 being teenagers. I'll have orangutang arms from carrying groceries.


Jaakko back in July 2006. I'm not sure if his eating habits have improved. Porridge is great paint and glue.... If Jaakko isnt' served food quickly enough, he gets it himself. This time I caught him with his pants down.
Chocolate cake dough is food, too. Risto and Tuomas in January 2007.

Risto eating seafood soup in February 2007 in Curacao. I think he took 2-3 helpings.

This boy can eat, believe me. Tuomas at Schiphol Airport in February 2007 on our way to Curacao. Well, he has to eat: his estimate height is well over 190 cm.

But sometimes he's too tired to eat. Tuomas back in July 2006. And why do I grab the camera instead of carrying the poor boy to bed?

And it happened to Jaakko in January 2007, too. And mommy grabs the camera.

Risto and Tuomas sleeping in Curacao, February 2007. With Risto's blue bunny and Tuomas' turtle keeping guard.

Curacao

Paradise Island. We spent 11 nights there in February. Such a long time ago... Risto (5 years) learned how to swim, Tuomas (3 years) liked to wear his sun glasses upside down and Jaakko (1 year) loved it all. I wouldn't mind going there again, despite the 24 h travel time.

Jaakko. Our little sunshine. He ate quite a bit of sand.

Risto and Tuomas. They look like they are always friendly towards each other and never fight.

Tuomas at the beach. This time with his sunglasses the right way.

Puulihuna

Well, I never thought I'd make a blog of my own, but here I am, typing away. I have come to the resolution that it's easier to keep our friends/family abroad up to date with our lives through a blog, rather than sending e-mails with huge attached piccie files. I try to up-date this blog as often as possible. And since time is limited, the blog entries may be full of spelling mistakes etc. but if I try to make this a linguistic masterpiece, I'll never write anything here!

Puulihuna (gibberish) is actually Huulipuna (lipstick in Finnish). Tuomas (now 3 years old) doesn't like lipstick. Every once in a while when I try to emphasize the dwindling feminine side of me (believe me, living in a househole with 4 males is not easy...) and wear make-up, Tuomas looks at me very suspiciously and says:"Mom, are you wearing sticklip? Wipe it off!"

I went back to work beginning of March and entered the Bermuda Triangle (the corners of the triangle being home, office and day care) and I thought that I'll disappear into this black hole for years. I have to admit that things are running more smoothly than I feared. All 3 boys like day-care and working only 4 days a week helps a lot. So, hopefully I'll be able to send some news from the Bermuda Triangle and some day (in about 18 years) find myself out of there!





This painting is made by a relative of mine, Anna Westphal. She is my step second cousin's daugher (i.e. close relative). We wanted her to do a painting of our boys, but not the usual portrait type. This is what she did and we love it! It's quite big, 1.4m wide, 1 m tall. All three boys are in it twice + a fourth figure. Can you see them all?

Check Anna's website at www.annawestphal.com. She has an exhibition at Café Engel in Helsinki in April.