this is not our house

it is a log house for sale to be transported away in eastern finland. it could be my dream house. i love the entrance in the corner, and all the details. i'm not very much into huge houses (i'm sure i wouldn't mind one, though. except for cleaning.) or very bourgeois style. for a long time we were planning to find a dream log house and move it to our place, but eventually we decided to just build an extension.
our house is around the same size as this one. it's not pretty like that, but i'm now having fun imagining how it will be to go inside the house, the mix of wallpapers - it's gonna be quite a funny house! birds and trees in the entrance "hall", cherry trees in V's place, roses in the bathroom, birds and grapes in the kamari room, glossy paint here, egg-tempera there... isn't it cool that a tempera guide book stated that organic eggs are far better quality for making paint as well! Y was putting antique plaster on the wall around the oven, and he mixed a pigment 'ultramarin rot' directly in it. he said it looks like blueberry quark. we got a lot of pigments in a wonderful pigment shop in Berlin, years ago. before V, before Manteli.

yesterday it was sunday, and our landlord (not the right word for his job...) brought us the eviction notice! i was a bit upset about it, being sunday and all, but it was good to see him. now we have a deadline, far ahead, and i got his word that we don't need to tell them one month in advance when we want to move. that's a big help!

things i'm saving for Manteli:




genmaicha from M.
soy sauce bottle (i ♡ Hakusan).
my birthday clock, it needs fixing.
linen kitchen towels.

everybody's beautiful

that was V's last sentence tonight. she was playing with a big gymnastic ball with my mum. my mum's mobile phone has a camera, and i suddenly became totally fascinated in how the shaky grainy pictures look like.

today we went to Manteli, first time this year! we met up at the bakery café with Y. then my mum was playing with V, they made a snow girl and fed horses (poor nature, there's green grass and little buds in trees). i papered working room with Y. my actual working moments there are so few, that i was happy to be doing something. well, after a bad impatient start. putting up wall paper is pretty hard at first! it was my first time. that room will be painted, so this was just white paper (makulatuuripaperi). electrician guy came over too and fixed the electricity center inside the house. now it's a bit less messy with cables and wires. but it's very messy otherwise. i wish all the unnecessary stuff was out of the way.

today's trip was a wonderful reminder of one the greatest things about countryside: the darkest darkness and millions of stars. V sang "Tuiki tuiki tähtönen" to the stars. (twinkle twinkle little star). it felt like a holy moment.

i caught cold too, so i get to take Dr Reckeweg sirop too!

lazy

more pencils. this is made by a friend of mine, Yuko. i have a little bit lost touch with her, but she makes wonderful cut paper illustrations. i should write to her.
me and V came to my mum's place, so that they could go out and play in the wet snow, walk around the pond and make snowmen and snow strawberry cakes and me, i would work. on my thesis. instead, there turned out to be a wireless net connection, so i've been adventuring. something useful too... and i did make chocolate cookies! when, oh when am i gonna start writing?! yesterday we finally met with R & R, and the bigger R said that writing a thesis in this short time is totally possible! she is the only person to think that way. thank you.
believe it or not, this picture is from a useful site:

(yes, it is insanely bad quality picture, but i like the colours. it's an old japanese denguri ball.)

on vacation

there is some white dust on the roofs now, and it feels a bit nicer. but i'm still desperately in need to make lists of nice and happy things. yesterday night i decided to have a sewing day today! i also thought to take photos of new buttons, but the camera is busy again. so this is a small pencil collection. i couldn't fall asleep for anticipating this day so much. no translating and no thesis stressing (maybe thinking about it, lightly). V is better and she went to kerho for 3 hours.
nice things from last couple of days:
-banana-poppy seed muffins. baking is something that i can easily do with V around, and she can help. when i sew, with machine or by hand, or sit at the computer she wants to be 0,5cm from me. which makes those activities difficult.
-evening disko at home to Bob Hund. V has such great moves. and Y.
-watching 'Panda kopanda' again. a sweet, sweet Hayao Miyazaki anime.
-a funny thing: i just wrote here that it looks nice when V draws on wrong places - did she read it or what? when i was taking a shower, she drew everywhere on the floor with a blue crayon. and it was a beeswax crayon, so it doesn't come off! there are blue shaded areas here and there.
-love talk with V: i like you so much. i like you too. i love you. and i love you. because you're so nice and sweet and cute and wonderful. and you are also nice and sweet and wonderful. and you're so clever and bright. and you too. you're my little child. and dad's too. i love dad and you, because you're so fine. etc...

planet H & V

i had 2 plans for the weekend: going to Manteli and meeting with mother and daughter R & R. and maybe fleamarket... but V has caught cold, and i've spent the weekend in my nightgown. but i've been a supermom: cleaning and making food (worth mentioning are sweet potato soup and spinach pan cakes), and organising some stuff to go to the attic. and i made one (yes, one) fish (Puhti-inspired); i spent the whole Saturday looking for a bag of sequins and yesterday evening i realised i must've left them at F's place. on easter time! how did i manage so long without them!

now that V has a running nose, i've been looking into my handkerchief collection again. i have plans for them, so i have to be careful which ones V gets to use. she doesn't like paper ones, she's so used to luxuries. in Kiasma exhibition there was also a work by A Tuominen (a favorite artist) with handkerchiefs. she is so scientific and poetic at the same time. inspiring.

no camera today, it went to work. i wouldn't encourage V to draw on things, but i think it looks so nice!

wool wool

more things to be happy about:
-knitting! i made a blue pipo hat for V, and it turned out to be way too big. then i made another one, which is also too big. she uses it now anyway. (when i make something or buy something new, i always tend to go for a big size. i have just bought the coolest jacket for V (on sale), to be worn around 2010...) i used the rest of hahtuva yarn (what is it called, the wool yarn that felts easily?), that i got for making woollen nappy pants. oh baby days...
-getting your kid warm: V got the most essential undershirt, a silk-wool no sleeves one. she will not be seen without it anymore. silk-wool smell made me think of baby days as well... hmmm. i'm very inspired (again) to make things and i'll be the first one to admit that i do anything except write my thesis.
-realising the baking idea: an apple-coconut-cashew nut-pie yesterday! sounds strange maybe, but it's gone already.
-going to Kiasma with M & S. the girls had a total love meeting after a one month break. sweet. and always interesting to see which artworks interest 2 and 3 year olds. from this fast forward tour i liked the remake of a Godard movie dance scene the most.
-receiving more mail: genmaicha (roasted rice tea) from M.

i also popped into an eco-shop i haven't been to before and this sweet lady wanted to give me some washing nuts (eh, pesupähkinöitä) if i promise to try them. i promised of course. she was a genuine eco lady, full of love.

fighting stress and darkness

-buying flowers
-eating halva
-receiving mail: Amnesty shirt for V with dragons and doves, Paradiset wallpaper arrived (in a crazy huge box filled with styrofoam!?), red Ruskovilla wools for V, Y ordered books too (...so is shopping the answer?) letter from K!
-4 kg of 'indian sugar' -> baking!
-talking about spring and "when we are in Manteli"
-coloring hair, maybe

these are Acme Novelty Library #18 by Chris Ware and a book on Joseph Cornell: we'll start making boxes!