Monday's Motivation Post

{By Gemma Correll}

I don't mind Monday,
but what really bothers me today
are those couple of sentimeters
of fresh new snow we got
during the night.
I was beyond bummed when
looking out the window this morning.
Oh spring, don't you ever come here?

{by Steph Says Hello}

This awesome print makes me feel better though.
Hope it helps you too
in case Monday feels like an old friend
you wouldn't care to meet on the street.

Something scary happened yesterday...

We were on our way to flea markets. I was very happy right then and totally lost in my thoughts. Which is all right cause I don't drive. My boyfriend did the driving and he did a good job. The streets were slippery though, but they usually are in wintertime. That's normal, and people who live in Finland are used to it. What people aren't used to, or at least I am not, are big black city jeeps ignoring the traffic regulations.

Right in the middle of a crossing of two streets that city jeep hit our car. Apparently the driver saw us too late, even though he was the one who should have seen us, cause we were the ones with the right of way. He came from our left and was in the crossing at the exactly same time with us. When my boyfriend saw that car, he braked as much as he could, of course. But the driver of the city jeep did the exact opposite and put his foot down. He evidently tried to get out of the way, but instead hit our car harder than he would if he had braked instead.

Long story short, no-one was hurt badly but out car. That poor thing is kinda smashed right now, and will very likely be written of. Me and my boyfriend have lots of bruises and some muscular pain, but are otherwise okay. (My knees are bright blue right now, which looks kinda quirky.) The two men in that city jeep got hardly a scratch to their car, and were just terrified, not hurt. It was their mistake totally, and their insurance will take care of the rest. The crappy thing is that we don't have a car anymore, and the refunds hardly will pay for a new one.

I never would have believed it, but I miss our car. It was old and crappy, but it was ours. It also made life easier and more comfortable. I miss Sunday rides and trifting trips we made together. I miss sitting in the front seat and listening to the radio. I think I won't be doing it for a while, I am just too scared to sit in the front anymore. I was afraid of cars even before this, but now, well, now I can hardly take a bus.

It's good to be okay. I'm so happy nothing worse happened.

Sigh...

{source unknown}

{via Design is Mine}

{by M. Fayre}

Back to school today.

I have to say I don't feel that excited.

Small things become big things when your ankle hurts

Today, at the doctors, they wanted to X-ray my ankle. I tripped on my own feet yesterday, and this morning my ankle was twice as big as it should be. Anyway, when I walked to the X-ray, the smiley chirpy nurse stopped me. "You are not pregnant, right?" she asked. In a smiley chirpy tone. "Not that I know" I answered without giving it so much thought. But the nurse wasn't happy. "I really hope I'm not", I continued, when she didn't let me walk into the room. For some reason she was staring at me. At my belly, to be exact. "You're not trying to get pregnant or anything?" she double-checked. "No, I'm using birth control. It's actually very unlikely I would be pregnant." "Hmmm", she mumbled still looking at my belly. "I guess it's all right then. If you're sure." And only then she looked at my face and smiled. With a smiley chirpy way.

It took me 35 minutes of sitting in the hallway and waiting for the results before I understood why she was repeating it so eagerly. Yes, I'm 95 % sure I'm not pregnant and I just had my period. I guess she should believe me, or at least believe I know better than she does. And yes, if I look like I were pregnant, that's just because I'm fat. And I know it too, you don't have to rub it to my face with your fake-concern of my baby-to-be. At least not on a shitty day like this.

That X-ray cost me 90€.

Apparently I still wasn't paying enough to get some delicacy.

Guilty!

{via}

Oh yes, yes you did.

And I keep you (at least partially)

responsible for all those years I spent

feeling abnormal and ugly

because of my flat, thin hair.

Which, for your information,

is the NORMAL hair type with at least

three-fourths of Finnish ladies.

Because of this I won't be watching or buying

any of your movies, shows or products

before you have a flat-haired, partially bald

heroine that looks AWESOME all the time

with her hairdo.

Or one with a mohawk that won't hold up,

cause that's what happens in a REAL word

with GRAVITY, at least if you're not ready

to put glue in your hair.

I hope you feel guilty and sorry.

And yes, I do have a bad hair day.

Again.

Meetings, part 2

I was on my way home, and feeling exhausted. I'm getting cold, I'm afraid, so I didn't feel well in any way. I was crossing the street when the lights turned red so I had to stop on the last traffic island of that three-part zebra crossing. I waited until the cars passed, and cause there were no more coming, I just went on. I know I'm not supposed to, but I have to say I only do this when I've double checked every direction and seen there's no cars at the moment. If there is one getting closer the crossroads I wait my turn. But as I said, there were no cars on the road, so I crossed.

I guess I shouldn't have done that this time, cause on the other side of the road there was a woman waiting with two small kids. She glanced at me in a very disapproving way, which is understandable, as I was being a bad example for those kids. I felt bad for it, until I passed them. Cause at that moment the woman leaned on her little son and I heard her to say at a very loud voice: "Honey, remember not to be that stupid yourself, ever."

At that moment I just had an urgent need to stop and say to that kiddo: "Honey, remember not to do OR leave undone anything in this life just because they told you so, ever." But when I'd finally got my sentence sound right, the lights had changed green and they were crossing the street already.

Dear Spring

Dear Spring,

what happened to you? Did you get lost on your way here? Or are you too busy getting rid of the winter somewhere else? I'm getting a bit worried, cause usually you are here already this time of the year. I hope nothing bad has happened to you, and that you won't let the climate change affect on your self-esteem. The weather was terrible today, I have a feeling the winter was mocking us with that wet snow pouring down. I need you and miss you, and I know I'm not the only one. Please hurry, March is no fun without you!

Love,
Inari

P.S. I've made preparations already, just in case you'll arrive unexpectedly. Here is a picture of the flower seeds I bought today. Just bring the sun with you, and we can start gardening together.

For the price of a cup of tea...

I need tea in the mornings. Preferably black, but other options are all right too, as long as it's tea. It helps me to wake up and get rid of my morning grumpiness. Sitting with a teacup is a good start for the day and a nice moment before hurrying out of the door. And I love those mornings when I have plenty of time to make a whole pot of tea and have a breakfast while reading a mag.

If I don't have time to enjoy the whole cup, I drink just half of it. Sometimes I make the cup of tea even though I know I won't have time to drink it anyway. The whistle of the kettle is an important part of my morning routines. If I skip it, I feel a bit moodier than usually. (But I do hate (or at least thoroughly dislike) mornings anyway, so they never are that positive time for me.)

This morning I overslept. I had less than 30 minutes to get ready and be out of the door. For a girl who needs at least 15 minutes to wake up and 20 minutes to eat breakfast, it means a chaotic, grumpy morning. I didn't have time to drink my tea. Not even make it. So at the first break I went to the school cafeteria to get a cup of it. And now I've had a taste of paper cup in my mouth the whole day. Nothing helps to get rid of it, and I have to say it hasn't made my day any better. I guess I'll have to start to carry a china teacup with me wherever I go.

Dear so and so...

Dear London,
I miss you.
Why do you have to be that far away?

Dear teacher,
I've got problems concentrating today,
and I'm sorry for that.
Could you be nice and let us go already?

Dear PhotoShop CS3,
do you have to be that frickin' complicated?

Dear Sun,
Thanks for shining today.
You made me miss summer though.

Dear snow,
I'm fed up with you,
please melt away already.

Dear craving for sugar,
get out of my head.
Immediately!

Dear liquorice smell,
I have no idea where you are coming from,
but you smell nice,
so please don't leave our apartment.

Dear fellow bloggers,
please don't be offended if I stopped following you today.
I had over 90 blogs on my blog roll, and I had to let some of them go,
as I didn't have enought energy to read every single post anyway.
But don't worry, I'll still be visiting you.

Dear J,
thanks for cooking.
and thanks for letting me sit on the kitchen couch
and just watch while you do that.
It makes me happy.

Dear mom,
I'm sorry I'm so terrible with money
and have to call you again soon
and ask you pay my train tickets
so I can visit you on my holiday.

Dear pink colour,
please don't fade away
and leave my hair so quickly.
You make me happy every time I look at the mirror.

Dear readers,
thanks for following, commenting and just being there.
You make me happy and motivated,
and mean lot to me.
Pleace know you are appreciated
and that I regularly visit your blogs,
if you only have one.

Dear friends in London,
I've been thinking of you a lot lately
even though I haven't wrote that many letters.
Thanks for being so nice for me when I was there
and remembering me now when I'm gone.
I wish I can visit you soon.

(Negative vs Positive) Thinking

My hair is a total mess. A curly knot on the top of my head pointing at all directions.
I can't find my library card. It still should be somewhere here.
At the doctor's they don't answer the phone so I can't make an appointment.
And our apartment is full off moist laundry, so there's nowhere to sit.
All I want to do is to crawl back to bed and stay there for the rest of the day.
Instead I have to write one more report and get out and be social in an hour. And buy a zipper. Can't forget to buy a zipper.

These are the colors of my mind at the moment.

I like this jumper, and not only cause it's stolen from his wardrobe.
And the second mitten is almost ready, I'm looking forward to start the next project.
I have some recorded episodes of Desperate Housewives to watch in the evening, it's a good reason just to sit on the laundry pile and knit.
I'm exited about my new blog friend.
And I've been adopted, a friend of mine all of a sudden started to call me his little sister. It seems to me that at the age of 23 I finally got the big brother I've always wanted. And I could choose him myself, so it's even better than having a biological one.

The fact you can't see it doesn't mean the monster wouldn't be there

I went to the attic today. Usually I never do it alone. I hate to admit it, but that place just creeps me out a bit. Yes, it's girly and it very well is pathetic. I just can't help it. And I don't even know why I'm scared. Rationally thinking there's no reason for that. But the point is attics are no rational places.

My friend once found a man sleeping in the attic of her house. Just in one of the closets up there. Mind you, the door of the apartment block and the door to the attic were both locked. She got a bit scared. I guess I would have had too, just because of the surprise. But in principal I don't have anything against men sleeping in attics as long as they let me be. In fact, in my opinion there has to be quite a good reason for sleeping up there, maybe he was homeless or very very tired. In a situation like that I would politely say hello and let him sleep. But I'm a girl who can have a conversation with a man sitting on the street. I asked him if he was all right, and when the guy answered me by asking why should he be all right I started a rather philosophical conversation with him. So it's no wonder, if you wouldn't act the same way.

Well, I didn't tell that story to say I'm afraid of attics cause there might be someone sleeping. I told it, because in my opinion it is a perfect example to summarize why you should be afraid of attics. Attics are weird. You never know what you will find when you go up there. In fact, I lived in this house for 4 months, before I even found the attic itself. I was looking for it, but my key didn't match the door it all of a sudden matched 4 months later when my boyfriend tried it. And a month ago I heard there was an attic in the house where my grandpa lived whole of my childhood until he died a year ago. I never knew about that. Even though I played a lot in there and examined all the corners. That's just...sneaky. Attics, they know how to trick people. And that's why I'm always so careful with them.

But today I didn't find anything special. Just two doors I had to remove cause someone had placed them in front of our closet. And those two jumpers and one skirt I went to look for. I still think there surely was a surprise somewhere there. I just couldn't see it cause I tried to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Things I irrationally dislike, part 2

Talking machines
I find it hard enough to listen all the persons around me. I don't need any more words from my toaster, computer or car. It creeps me out when a metallic voice starts to speak, especially if I'm not prepared for it. Navigators in cars annoy me a lot, but I truly hate speaking elevators. It's so unnatural. Think about it: you stay in a closed box going up or down between floors and then, tsadam - 'This is floor one, doors opening, mind the doors.' Oh really, floor one already? I couldn't tell it from that huge number one on the screen. And like I couldn't step out of an elevator if somebody doesn't tell me to.

The worst thing of the whole situation is that I was bred for politeness. 'If somebody speaks to you, it is polite to answer'. In my opinion there's no difference between talkers, have they brain or not. So, you can imagine what happen when I use a talking elevator. Before getting to my floor I've usually had a long conversation. But apparently it's just me, as people using the same elevator usually look me like I were, well, weird is quite a nice way putting it.

Things I irrationally dislike, part 1

Tins and jars that have texts telling what's inside them.
Like sugar or cookies painted/printed to the tin itself. I have no problem with handwritten labels, feel free to use them if you like. But if the designer of the pot thinks s/he can tell me what to store in that particular one, it just makes me mad. Therefore I never follow those "instructions", vice versa. We have biscuits in a jar saying sugar, semolina in a tin meant to coffee and rice in an old liquorice box. So if you visit my home and find white stuff in a pot named salt, the only thing you can be sure about is that it doesn't have anything to do with seasoning.

No, you can't stay under my umbrella. There's no room in here

If yesterday was sticky, today has just been, well, slimy.

On days like this I just hate Finnish winter. And I hate the fact weather changes so fast. It's been snowing for a week now. With breaks, of course, but still, every time I've looked out of the window I've seen some white stuff falling from the sky. Last night, after my sticky indoor day I decided that next morning I'm gonna get out and have a nice long walk in the snow. Well, this morning, when I started my miserable and moody Monday, what did I see from my window? The freaky dog from next door and pouring rain. Almost no snow, just gray, wet, mushy slush everywhere. And when I left, I was wet before I got out of the backyard. And it was so slippery. The worst things of the Finnish winter are slush and icy surfaces slyly hiding under it. It's not easy to balance on a slippery, uneven ground flooding with puddles. Not even if you wore a pair of boots originally designed to the US army. Honestly speaking, using them even for an hour is more exercise than going for a run of two in normal shoes (which, of course, is totally impossible in these weather conditions between Nov and Feb. At least if you don't wanna break all your bones, and I wouldn't recommend it, cause that famous free health care system of ours hasn't really earned it's fame when it comes to taking care of customers.) So, never buy boots with steel caps (if you don't have strong leg muscles, as they are heavy), never move to Finland if you can choose and if you can't, just hibernate over the winter. That's the only way to survive about this mess.

Yeah, that's all I've got to say today. And yeah, this is one of my grumpy days again. But don't you worry, this is the only thing I'm gonna rant about in here (today).

At least I look cool in them.