It's cold

Yeah I keep hearing all the time how warm it is in Finland. And here, in the land of sun, it's freezing. I think most of the people I know think that Australia is warm and sunny all year round. Well it's not. And especially when the houses are very poorly insulated, you really feel the cold.

I've got my ugg boots to keep me warm, but little missy didn't have anything, but socks so she definitely needed something to keep her little feet warm.

This time I didn't even want to try to take a picture of her having these on, considering how it turned out last time. The instructions for these booties can be found here (it's a ravelry link so you need to sign in to see the pattern). It was really easy and I like the way they turned out. Now I wanna make more.

Also since it's officially Autumn here I had to make apple pie, because that's what you do in Autumn. (My head is all confused at the moment because after Autumn comes Winter and that's when Christmas is, so I'm already thinking what I could do for Christmas. It's very quite weird.)

This apple pie is SO good. Those in Finland or if you understand Finnish, this is the recipe. And for the others I'll translate the recipe and change the measurements into cups:

Ingredients:

200g margarine or butter (I used butter)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cup of flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp vanillin sugar
2-3 apples
sugar and cinnamon

1. Melt the butter and mix the sugar in.

2. Add the flour (not baking powder yet). The dough should be a bit moist. Take about 1/4 cup of dough aside at this stage (you'll put it over the pie at the end).

3. Add the egg, the milk, the baking powder and the vanillin sugar in the dough and mix well.

4. You can use either an oven tray or a pie dis. Oil it or use baking paper. Pour the dough in (the dough should be a bit runny).

5. Peel and slice the apples and put them in the dish.

6. Sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon to the top. Sprinkle also the dough you took aside earlier.

7. Bake in 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

8. Enjoy, it's super yummy!


I've made it twice and it's gotten only good reviews, so have a go and let me know what you thought!

I simply remember my favorite things...

...and then I don't feel so bad.

Yeah I haven't had the best week. Emma has still been a bit sick and not eating properly, not sleeping properly and she hasn't wanted to do anything on her own so I've had to be with her all the time. Also we've been here just over 3 months now and I'm starting to miss Finland big time and the way we do things. I know it's part of culture differences and it'll pass. And I'm not talking about anything big:

• Hot and cold taps (they are everywhere and the pressure doesn't stay long so you have to keep adjusting them all the time. Why can't you just have one tap people?)
• The ladies at the grocery shop pack 1-3 items in a plastic bag, so in the end you've got 10 bags not even half full. Yeah I'm taking my own material bags now, but it still makes me mad when I see that happening.
• Some of the shops don't take credit cards and some of those that do actually don't if you buy stuff with less than $10 (I guess that's only country thing but still..)

 
Oh yeah I could continue, but today I don't want to focus on the negative (well I had to get all that above out). I grabbed a few things that make me happy and took a picture:

• River flows in you -notes. I'm practicing this piece at the moment, I'm very NOT good, but I enjoy practicing and I try to play a bit everyday.
• Spotlight VIP-club card. One of my favorite shops, material shop and craft shop. The only sad thing is that the closest one is 2 hour driveway so it's not like I get to go every week. But I sure enjoy when I do go!
• Hugo Simberg's The Wounded Angel picture that I found just the other day in my scriptures. I think it's beautiful painting. 
• My other piece of Finland, the beautiful Aarikka (Finnish design brand) necklace. Got it as a graduation present and fell in love with it.
• I'm not sure why I put the Sudocream jar there, but that stuff is amazing for nappy rash (and we've had to use it everyday for a while now since Emma has been sick.) Amazing stuff.
• My third piece of Finland - Miksi -fridge magnet. (miksi means why in Finnish). I love it, absolutely love it and hopefully one day I can get more of these.
• Finger pointing stamp. Yeah I've used stamps in every scrapbook page I've made here and this one is my favorite. I'd want to stamp it on every page, but I'm trying to hold myself back.
• Awesome phone. Didn't know how I'd go with a touch screen and now I don't ever want to go back.
• Ugg boots. Couldn't live without them. It's getting so cold over here so for the last week or so I have worn my ugg boots inside and outside, everywhere. And guess what, I feel nice and warm because my feet are warm.
• And lastly my precious girl. Even though she's been hard work for the last week, I still enjoy being with her and playing with her. 

Did you know that she turned 9 months yesterday! 9 months! That's how long she was in my tummy and now she's been the same time here with us learning and developing every day. Wow. And because she's been a bit sad and sick too I thought I'd take a picture of her favorite things too:

• Remotes, she's happy if she can play with them
• Oranges and apples, the best food she thinks at the moment
• Dummy
• Ammu - her sleeping buddy (it's the cow). Ammu comforts her a lot.
• Books, she loves listening when we read books for her.
• Swimming suit to mean swimming. We went swimming on Thursday and she was like a totally different girl. Love it so much!

Well there you go. Sorry it was a bit of a long post and sorry if you're Australian and got offended by my sads in the beginning. But I wanted to get it off my chest.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Daddy's girl

Just a quick post today. This little girl really is daddy's girl. When dad comes home she crawls as fast as she can straight into daddy's arms. And oh the cry if daddy can't pick her up straight away. (Picture is from Fathers day last year.)

Isin tytto siis. En ole nopeammin nahnyt Emman konttaavan kuin silloin, kun isi tulee toista kotiin. Ja voi sita itkua, jos isi ei pysty ottaa heti syliin. Kiitos inspis tiimille ihanista haasteista. Saanpahan skrapattya vanhojakin kuvia pois alta (tama kuva on viime vuodelta).

I can't keep up

I love reading other blogs and I love the tutorials and instructions people write there. So as you might have noticed I have lately tried to do some of those things that I've seen. And why not give credit to the awesome people who make these tutorials. They are fantastic.

The latest thing I've done is these little shoes for Emma. She hasn't had any shoes yet so I thought I'd make one. You can find the tutorial here. The instructions are for 0-6 months old so I made just a touch bigger and now they are a bit too big for Emma (I think and hope she has my feet). And guess if I was able to take a good shot of her with them on. This little monkey (as I am now calling her) is so quick and always on the move that it's impossible to keep up. No wonder her head is full of bruises. But you gotta love her.

Long waited victory and not expected virus

I can't imagine a better start of a week than to hear that Finland is the world champion in ice hockey. Let me explain you; if i would have to list memories from my childhood, one of the top memories is 1995 and Finland winning the ice hockey world championship (yep, even after 16 years I remember it so well). We are ice hockey people (not all, i know, but I am). And it was a huge deal when we won it back in 1995, so you can (hopefully you can) imagine the excitement now that it happened again after 16 years. The whole country went crazy and trust me, I went crazy too. Crazy with joy!

I watched every video related to the game from you tube, since I couldn't watch the game on tv. I wore my husbands SUOMI t-shirt for two days even though it was dirty. I baked raspberry cupcakes (nothing to do with Finland really, I just had to make some because I was so excited). I am so proud to be a Finn and I bet this is one of those events that Finns are going to remember a long time (like 1995 victory).

Then on Tuesday evening the virus hit. It hit Emma. She vomited and yes, we were driving so she got the car covered. This morning she vomited in our bed. (yeah don't worry, no pictures of this.) So I have been cleaning and washing; the car, the bed, all clothes and sheets and Emma herself. And if that wasn't enough, poor thing fell yesterday and hit her head pretty bad (yes I will provide a picture of her bruised head).

It might not look so bad in the picture, but she reminded me of a unicorn with one horn in the middle of her forehead. So I decided it was time for her to get some socks with non-slipping bottoms too. Remember I made some for her cousin a while ago, here.

So here I go, back to put some more washing on the line.

She can be cute but she can also be loud.

Trust me I have been doing other things than just scrapbooking. But I had to do this page after I saw what it would look like in my head (yeah didn't end up just like that, but I'm still pleased). It's about my little cutie (again) and about how loud she is. Maybe she'll be a singer one day.

And next something else than scrap pages, I'm even thinking about a tutorial (uuh, maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud).

feeling uplifted

 

For the last few days I have...

...watched my little girl play by herself and then moving to the next spot and continue playing.

...faced towards the sun and enjoying the warmth on my face.

...thought the meaning of family and my role as a mother.

...written a letter to my grandmum.

...practiced playing the piano which is not going too good, might get someone to actually teach me.

...sewn a skirt for myself and taught others to sew that same skirt.

...laughed with friends for big hips and broken sewing machines, just having the positive attitude in doing and being.

...hoping and wishing to read a book sometime soon, I long for a book.

...listed my goals for myself only to notice that it's a list of my wishes for my daughter. 

What have you done over the last few days?

And lastly this song has touched me and if I could write a lullaby for my baby girl, this would be it (though I'd change the "boy" to "girl").

Getting inspired - challenge 157

It's been a long time (too long if I might say) since I've participated in the get inspired scrapbooking challenge. For those who don't know what it is: Every week you can find a new and so inspiring challenge. An idea of how to do your scrapbooking  from a bit different perspective that you might not have thought of.

I love the idea and I'm so excited that I was able to take part of it again. This weeks challenge was to make a time line. I don't know if this is a time line in itself, but it's got 4 generations of women in our family. I want Emma to appreciate her relatives and her family history so I thought this would be one good way to do it. 

Ja suomeksi: 
Aah liian pitka aika on kulunut siita, kun osallistuin inspiksen skrappays haasteeseen. Nyt vihdosta viimein, kun sain muutaman kuvan kehitettya niin paasin hommiin. Aiheena oli siis talla viikolla aikajana. En tieda onko tama sinallaan aikajana, mutta idea oli kertoa meidan perheen neljan sukupolven naisista. 

Haluan, etta Emma arvostaa sukuaan ja ajattelin, etta tama voisi olla yksi tapa, miten han voi muistaa suvun tarkeytta. Aloin ensin kirjoittaa tuota tekstia tuossa sivussa suomeksi, mutta kun huomasin, etta ai niin, eihan tassa nappaimistossa ole a:ta ja o:ta (you know what I mean) niin totesin, etta parempi vaan tehda englanniksi.

Books, rhymes, picnics - that's what our family is made of

So I promised some to show some of the scrapbooking pages I made during the Easter. I'm still trying to figure out my style so these are pretty simple, but I'm learning to take some risks.

I'm loving stamps and rub-ons at the moment (which you can probably see). I've also gotten a lot of papers from my friends and I'm trying to use them up before I go ahead buying new ones. (Also thank you Suvi for the flowers!) And I was having some problems taking the pictures (we don't have a scanner so I have to take pictures of the pages), so the darker area on every page is just a shadow from my camera.

Yes all of them are for Emma and I can tell you know that most of the ones I'm gonna make in the future are for Emma too. I want her to be able to look back, see and read of the things she's done and what kind of person she's been when she was little.



Oh and yes we did spend May day or Vappu in Finnish. And yes I made sima (a finnish drink that you drink on the first day of May, it's basically lemon and sugar) and yes I made munkki (a bit like donut and you eat it on the first day of May too). We went for a picnic in the park and enjoyed our time.

Hope you all you Finns had a great vappu!

Something little for a little princess

While the world was watching (yes me included) how a middle class woman turned into a princess (this is what they were saying on tv) on the other side of the world, one little princess had her first birthday on this side of the world. I can't believe that it's been already a year since my niece, Emma's cousin was born.

And here's what she got from us:

Two skirts (because a princess can never have too many skirts). The tutorial for these skirts is found here.

Matching hair clips and couple of others. I really like how these turned out. 

And some non-slipping socks so that she won't fall over. She's always on the move!

We had lots of fun at her party and some absolutely amazing cake. I'll be soon back with our May day (VAPPU) pictures.