The toughest job

What's the toughest job you can think of?

For the past five months we have been thinking about it. And now we're doing it! DH gave in his notice a week ago and I told my boss a couple of days later that we're packing our bags at the end of the year and moving to Costa Rica. To do the most demanding, yet fulfilling job: being a parent. The boys are old enough to enjoy the experience, yet still young enough to want to spend time with us.

It is our last summer in this house. We're selling the whole lot, except for what you can fit into 5 suitcases á 20 kg. So we have a couple of things to do, e.g. learn Spanish!

Hopefully, by Christmas 2010, we have returned to Guanacaste, Costa Rica!

Suffocating

We have way too much stuff. "We" meaning us as a family, but also "we" as in general. I need to get rid of it, before I suffocate. But it is really, really hard for me. It took me two months to throw away boys' corduroy trousers that had been patched from the knees and torn from the buttocks. Two months they sat in the utility room waiting for their destiny. It wasn't for sentimental reasons. I just didn't want to throw them away just in case I found some use for them. But they were beyond thrift store quality. I just couldn't throw the fabric away. Finally one night I took my scissors, ripped the zipper (I might need it one day), saved a couple of buttons and elastic and cut the rest into rags. They're now in a plastic bag in the storage room to be used for cleaning... something... some day.
I found a black bin bag full of drawings from my school days. Also a project on husbandry in Finland. The first two newspaper clippings (from 1988) made me smile:"Warehouses full of wool" and "Beekeeping and research limping" (I know, pathetic translations, but you'll have to live with it). I have boxes and boxes of yarn and I'm dreaming of having an apiary.
How 80's the guy with the huge shoulder pads! Beginning of every school year we mad a big paper bag into which the drawings of the following school year were put. I remember being very proud of the one I did starting grade 8 (I was 14 I guess), the one on the top left.
And the dung beetle was one of my favourites, too.
And I was so ashamed of the portrait of my dad in the middle. He didn't look like that!
This is actually fabric glued on paper.

For over two decades I have moved the black bin bag from house to house. It's time to say good-bye to them.

The next project is the book shelf. What should I keep?

Cars

Yesterday we went to a sports car show. The boys were in heaven, all four! I have to admit that it wasn't boring for me either. I tried to take some photos, but had just one lens, no tripod and I don't have a decent flash. I didn't like the fluorescent lights reflecting from the cars. And of course the boys wanted to use the camera, too.

I like keeping the pictures simple.
The red paint was chipped.
I don't know the make nor model, but it's an old green car that makes my heart throb.
This one's orange, the only thing I like about it. I prefer the older ones.

Yeah, this is what I like.So where does the airbag pop out from?

My list of "I want" includes a house in the country, a loom, apiary and llamas (alpacas will do, too). I'll just add to it a nice red sports car. I don't ask for much, do I?
I try to find the time to do some girly stuff, too. I knit these socks this spring. Took me about a month, but had to have a break between the two socks since I got RSI. My hands really hurt for almost a week.

Perfect weekend

Ascencion Day weekend took us to Saviaho, DH's aunt. Four days in heaven for me and the boys, too. Total relaxation in excellent company in the country side. The boys took the dogs for walks. On a field about 300 m from the house was a huge boulder. The first night we headed there.Jaakko with Aino-Inkeri.Tuomas with Hex.Risto with Alli Manninen.And how do I know that the distance was about 300m? Because DH has a range-finder, and Risto measured it. 274m as the crow flies, so approximately 300 for the boys. We had a lovely evening sitting on the patio sipping bubbly watching the boys run around with Alli. Tuomas decided to run to the boulder and back three times. A nice 1800 m run to end the day.The itsy-bitsy spider also thought that it was a perfect time for an evening walk and took a stroll on the birch. The black speck about half way up is the spider.
There is plenty of space for the boys to run around. They're old enough that I can trust them not to fall face down into the pond or get run over by the occasional car. They love going to the ghost forest for walks on their own.
Then there was fire! Aunty P's husband burned the dry grass on the surrounding fields and the boys could join in. Well, it was fun for me, too.It wasn't easy to drag the boys to bed from the burning field.
It is only in Saviaho that I go riding. 2 hours in the forest on a horse, that's what I call therapy. The boys want to ride, too, but they're too inexperienced to go riding in the forest. And these horses hadn't been ridden for quite a while, so they were full of energy.After the ride in the forest the boys could have their turn on the field.
It's a lot of excercise for me: "Mom, run faster!!!"
Tuomas' turn. I let him go by himself. I was too tired to run in the +23C weather. And Risto. By this time Gloui was so tired (i.e. fed up) that every time Risto turned him towards the stables he started to tölt (Icelandic pony trot) faster and it was difficult for Risto to stop him. I was getting anxious.
DH doesn't want to try. He says because he's allergic, but I think he's just a big sissy. He was surprised to see me ride, tölt and gallop and to have the horse in control. What did he think I had been doing in the forest with the horse?

Piano

Risto had his first piano concert about a month ago. There were about 20 children (+ a couple of adults) performing, an audience of over 50. I think I was more nervous than him. A couple of hours before the concert he was struggling a bit, but ended up playing the Norwegian folksong perfectly (took about 24 seconds). I was so proud to notice that he was the only one to bow after playing.
Il Maestro.Tuomas sat quietly and listened throughout the whole concert which lasted over an hour. It is amazing how he is able to fully concentrate on something he enjoys.
For Jaakko it was too much.