thank you for this year

I'm happy to see this year end. I'm going to start the year 2010 all fresh. Somehow. It is the year of the tiger!

I'm just finishing a beret for V, I love the colour.

Happy New Year
Onnellista uutta vuotta

in between days

I wish I had wished everyone happy christmas. And sent some cards.
Well, I wish you had a nice christmas!

We did. It is so stress-free to just be at home, have it a bit tidier than usual, eat what we want and create our own traditions. There was outrageously many presents. There was even one more that arrived in the mail today! I gave Y the same thing he gave me last year. A wonderful Ruskovilla blanket. One for V as well. She got hers before christmas when it was really cold. V gave me wildrose bath cream.

Today's menu: tofu burgers!

do it

Cut my hair a bit more.
Make wings.
Bake a cake. And another.
I'm thinking 4 cakes.
And gingerbread.
Make clothes for a doll.
Clean some more corners.
And the tree...

I like a bit of rush. And if it doesn't happen it doesn't.

a moment

It takes some days to get used to new situations. Y is going back to work in January and it was a bit of a shock to me. I just got used to having him at home, he got used to being at home. We had fights about really absurd matters at first. From now on I will take this as a long holiday.

I'm having my moment here. Unfortunately it includes doing the dishes too. V is decorating her little tree up in her place. We chose the one we will have downstairs. Little V is sleeping on top of Y. He is so cute. He looks like a dolphin.

paradiset

One of the goals before christmas was to get this wallpaper up. It's done. My eyes didn't yet get used to seeing it instead of the black board with pieces of glued newspaper. Paradiset is designed by Josef Frank.

Originally we were going to put the wallpaper on this closet door too, but it will be sanded and lacquered with Tonkinois instead.

From the goals list, we also have a lamp outside and in the veranda now. And red knitted pants are ready, that was a while ago.

Yesterday we had a nice family trip to here and to a flea-market. V was impressed. There is a moose peeping in through the wall. Found red felt boots for V.

a magazine

I'm quite happy with a magazine for once. It is Milk déco 3. I'm also reading happily Apartamento 3 and ANPQ magazine vol 2 issues 3 & 4.


I'm in love with this woman and her daughter's room's rug and her guest rooms. And I love the bench on the cover.

These are my new socks. By Rinne-Niinikoski for marimekko.

This post doesn't reflect my mood at all.

a family portrait

I thought it was funny that everyone had something hanging on their closet doors. Y didn't think it was that funny, he said it's me who put all that stuff hanging there. Not on purpose for the photo, but he's got a point. I have a (bad) habit of hanging stuff.

We're spending a birthday marathon weekend. I love wrapping presents. And we don't have to cook this weekend! Yesterday was a total baby party.

I want to post about so many things. That makes me wonder sometimes. About magazines, knitting, decorating, receiving wonderful stuff in the mail (thank you!). Why?

Now it's white outside - it always makes me excited, breathless, warm inside.

her favourite thing

One of them, the other one of them. My mum went to Spain and came back with 2 flamenco-princess dresses. On this day she was allowed to wear it outside when we went to a christmas fair. I took the camera with me as I imagined that there would be snow. I just couldn't imagine a christmas fair without snow. We got a big baking board there and our cookie baking was very professional. Also beautiful mittens for V, they were in pocket number 11.

ps I've tried to take photos of the dresses and they always are too posed. This one isn't.

his favourite thing

I got V's old mobile out just in time. He loves to look at the animals while he's getting his nappies changed. He likes the crocodile the best, maybe.

my favourite is the grumpy looking heart

calendar

V is finding things in the pockets and she has two picture calendars. The other one she is for some reason keeping behind a curtain. She has become more demanding -"just a hair-band!"- but she's also happy about about every little thing and every picture.

We baked christmas cookies yesterday, decorated them today and got surprise guests today - how perfect is that! Good things happen. Cleaning makes you happy. Wall-papering makes you happy. A new reading light makes you happy. Hmm. And knitting, I have about 5 projects.

tub

We use the "tummy tub" almost every day. He jumps up and down in the water and the floor is soaked after the bath. It's even funnier now that I recognized these sudden jumps to be the same jumps he did when he was still inside my belly.

It is December, it's frosty outside, I love knitting.
Listening to The XX.

snow charms

Trying to make snow inside so that the outside would start wanting to become white too.

Me and the kids have been having fever. Both kids had to go to the doctor for a check-up too. It is horrible to have these two, and fear something would happen to them. I've been crying a lot. I'm not used to sickness.

I've been to the dentist. His name is Kasimir and he has a beautiful accent and perfect grandpa glasses (my grandpa).

Y bought himself a new camera and made me the owner of the one I'm using all the time. I own my camera now! (It's my christmas present.)

We made a big list: Goals before christmas.

"they have tender hands"

We have entered the barbie era.
A barbie was V's shy christmas wish ("I don't want anything plastic, but... I'd like a barbie"), but 2 of them moved in about a week ago. Flea-market beauties. I didn't think they would be for christmas, and she was quick to spot them hiding under other things we found at a big flea-market we went to recently. I'm not against barbies, I'm actually a bit excited. And their existence makes the advent calendar preparations a lot easier. They need everything, hats, skirts etc. But they have beautiful chairs, my old ones.

"cherry tree"

The wallpaper is called cherry tree even though it's quite obviously a plum... V's loft is finally papered! Yeah! We are a family of freelancers from this week on, so maybe other little unfinished spots get some attention too. Not to mention the big unfinished spots...

I'm all enthusiastic about my little projects, but I just end up blogging cos it's possible with just one hand, even left hand.

Bill Callahan "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle"

the collar

More from the same photo shoot: I'm in love with this lace collar. It's new, flea-market new. V thinks it doesn't suit me and that she looks like a boy without it. She's right about the first thing.

The baby smiles and grunts. He sounds like Chewbacca. He behaves well. His parents don't. I'm happy my kids have each other as "fate-comrades". Ha, that's a finnish word.

a fox

This fox arrived to our house. My daughter would like to see it, but somehow she's always away when the fox appears. It's quite obvious where the fox came from though. I'm feeling very lucky.

Feels almost like I've seen this. According to this book you can see a napping fox in the forest if you're lucky. Our fox had a nap on V's bed under the bird scarf that fairies usually use.

restart

I'm back to one project I started long ago. It needs an empty table.

I got a good phone call today. Work related.

My sister won a short film competition.

Presents arrived in the mail.

I had a long nap.

Joanna Newsom: "Ys"

before snow

I wanted to take photos of apple trees. My baby has brown eyes. My big girl has green eyes. I have blue-grey eyes and Y has brown eyes. The baby is a little copy of him.

first snow

tangled

I'm braiding my hair all the time to keep it from getting too tangled. But if you keep the same braids for days and days, your hair gets tangled anyway. A tangle is nice in finnish: takku.

It is November. Marraskuu.

he's one month old

Our "hitting the town" wasn't very efficient, partly because we had to take little H to the vet in the morning. Maybe the reason she came back home was that she was sick. A very nice vet we have in the village! The cat had fever and urine infection. So we got to town quite late, but V got 2 playgrounds, I bought 3 books (one christmas present for each family member) and Helsinki was Beautiful. Walking on the streets when it was dark was special too. We met up with Y after his work.

And in any case, we did it (= managed to go somewhere, the 3 of us).

Have a nice weekend! I'm looking forward to some more wallpapering and hopefully flea-markets.