Sneaking a moment...

I'm sneaking a moment to share my latest going-ons... I feel naptime might be running out so I'll make it brief!

 Meal planning.

It sounds boring and tedious to decide what you're going to eat for the next week. I used to think so anyway.

We've been doing this for a month or two and it's changed the way we cook (healthier!) and the way we spend money at the grocery store (less!).

Here's a spaghetti dinner we made. I just love the look of the pasta :D

Pussy willows. 

The first sign of spring. I can't believe the winter we've had and how fast spring has come.

(even though it's snowing outside at the moment, it's supposed to melt by Friday).

 

I haven't gotten around to crocheting or knitting much since last time. 

Unfortunately! 

But my knitting machine Aunt whipped out TWO pairs of baby socks for Elisabeth while she was in town! :)

 

The border is growing. Slowly. 

I made a whole row of sc in the light gray... only to get about 15 stitches from the end of the WHOLE ROW and run out of yarn! GRRRR!

It pissed me off enough that only today have I picked up the hook again. 

Now I'm just going to do hdc rows of green and the dark gray. 

This blanket is already getting used though, even with some ends hanging off. It's perfectly large and thick!

As an anniversary present from my aunt, we got a pot of pansies. 

(I had just complained about how I will miss out on pansies on my balcony this year). 

They are so very pretty!

 

My muffin is growing at warp speed and now she can stand up all by herself against any table or chair that she chooses. 

 

This face is so cute that I can't even handle it.

I have this photo as my background on the laptop and it makes me smile every time. 

Just over a week left until we are headed to Japan... 

I can't handle that either! 

There is so much still up in the air about living there AS WELL AS after we get home... 

If ever, now is the time to just say, what happens happens and hope for the best!

Life's an adventure, right?!

Valentine's recap and handicrafts and so on

Happy belated Valentine's Day! ;)

Ok, so I really did mean to post something for then, but understandably, time gets away from me. I had a great Valentine's Day though, spent with my two most favoritest people eating good food! We made homemade chicken pizza from scratch (including the crust!), topped with lots of fresh veggies. We ate the pizza with arugula (rocket) on top. I've seen it on pinterest like that before and the idea stuck. It was definitely delicious that way! 

Dessert was heavenly fudgy thick peanut butter swirl brownies. Yeah. Yum! (just not very photogenic...)

Obviously Valentine's Day = flowers. 

I bought myself pink and purple tulips this year, since we were at the store a  few days before and I couldn't decide which color I wanted more. Hubby's answer: get both. Ooooooh twist my arm why don't ya! ;) 

  (blue inside the purple ones!)

My sister bought Elisabeth a beeeeeeeeeautiful (and surprisingly a little fragrant) pink rose. Ah. ♥

I've been crocheting and knitting quite a bit when I get a chance... It is my stress/anxiety medication. 

I have made more owls. (check out my last post).

 Not pictured is the blue on blue one I made for my sister.

I've been knitting more of this simple garter stitch scarf. I love the stripe. I love variegated yarn. I love blue. So um, yeah. There's a love thing going on with this, even if I do find it a little repetitive. 

I have all my blues and greens used up for my starburst blanket. I got to 80 squares! My mom and her friend came over last Monday, and she actually crocheted I think the last 4-5 squares while I knit! I have them assembled in piles to be crocheted on... but suddenly I'm stalling! I don't know why. I guess because crocheting them together and sewing in the ends is so dreadful? :D 

I have a major yarn swooning thing going on with these here.

I bought them for my next big blankie. I am so in love with the starburst pattern, that I'm doing a brighter version with a "classic" white border. The white is actually more of a cream but you get it, right. 

Anywho, I am sooooooo in love with these jewel tones. Ah, perfect! ♥

This will be the bright sunny sister to my shadowy blue and green blanket. :)

 We had a sushi night on Sunday with the family... It was super fun and was our late Valentine's celebration and kind of sorta a celebration because we bought the tickets and it's 100% sure we will be living in Japan from the end of March-late June!! 

:) 

(my roll was a little heavy on the rice...)

But yep, Japan. Us three. Three months. 

Spring! 

I'm so thrilled, happy, excited, scared, nervous, happy, excited, well I think you're getting the idea.

A lot for us to arrange but when adventure comes knocking, we aren't the type to tell it to go away. I think there is probably a meme with Bilbo out there that describes this situation right now. ;)

We will be on the North island, Hokkaido and living in Sapporo. I am kind of torn as to whether or not I should 

a)blog about the life there

b) blog about our life there on this blog

c) start a travel blog?

I'm kind of leaning towards option C because I kind of like my personal little blog and I think of this as my (private) journal where I log in all my makes and eats and flower pictures for me to look back on. :D 

And I think I'd like to share my travels more openly (=linking on facebook) and possibly do it in both Finnish and English so that everyone could read it? 

If you have an opinion, leave and comment or send me a message! 

Well, it's dinner time for a muffin I know. I'm surprised I managed to get around doing this to the end, seeing as she woke up half way through! 

I'll leave you on a cutie pie note:

Benjamin the British Blue. ♥ 

I super mega love this kitten and might just steal him when my friend's not looking ;)

Thanks for reading.

Until next time, cheerio!

In the Sunshine state!

Here we are in Florida for almost a week now. It's been great fun, but man... it's easy to get homesick these days! At least I have wonderful little nephews to keep me occupied and the weather has be excellent! I won't lie, I've done some shopping (but I'm really waiting for the post-Christmas sales!!). With the hustle and bustle of little boys and getting stuff done, it's been hard to get into the real Christmas spirit. I can't believe it's just a few days away!!

Here are some vacation snapshots!!

My sister has a lot of cute little plants in pots on the patio.

Bougainvillea in various colors.

 

Frodo, the loud Siamese.

Sunset and pelicans on the intracoastal.

 

Dragon roll... yum!!

 

Hopefully I get back here before too long with more photos. 

:)

Camping

So, I love camping.

OK, the bug bites are horrible, the rain on the way home was horrible, the sleeping with no comfy pillows and bed was horrible....

but I had fun!

The weather on Saturday was GORGEOUS!

We got to the island without issues from our bears. Manta has a history of jumping out of boats...and Koda has only ever stepped foot in one once before and did not like it. 

...Yet the 30 minute boat ride to the island went well...
And we had a great time! :)


Koda waiting for us to get on the boat...or perhaps he was wondering at this point if he'd be expected to get on the boat with us! Lol!

Far too much stuff... for one night. :D
Sorry, I can't pack light! (And hubby's just as bad...)

Pretty boat ride pictures...

Pispala from the lake...

A sauna-boat. I want one!! :)

The island we camped on... we chose a nice spot on the far side of the island.

Our camp spot. And Manta wishing she was allowed to just go lay in the tent. Some outdoorsy dog.. ;)

Heather.

Lingonberries.

We had fun taking pictures of the lake through polarized sunglasses. The lake and sky were just beautiful the entire time we were there.

Some kind of grass. It was golden in the sunshine.

Manta bear being ridiculous.

Our dinner: zucchini, potatoes, corn (homegrown!), habanero flavored sausage. Dessert was SMORES!!!

The happiest bear ever. He had such a blast!

Oooooooh the sunset.
So romantic to sit by a campfire and watch the sunset change.

The view of the night lights from where we were camped.

Hubby had a tough time sleeping so he got up early and enjoyed the quiet sunrise himself.

...and he left me a morning message for when I woke up:

So sweet! ♥


So that was our camping trip. I wish the weather on Sunday would have been better so we could have enjoyed the day longer (instead of getting rained on!), but all in all, I regret not going earlier!!

Thanks for popping by!
Hope your week is off to a good start...only 3 more days till the weekend! :)

The Countryside

I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but last Saturday we took a little trip to a country town, Hämeenkyrö, about 40 minutes from here. My mom's friend lives out there and has been telling us about a great flea market...so obviously it was time to check it out! :)

The flea market was big, one of the biggest I've ever been to. It was almost overwhelming...and towards the end I just got so...tired. Is there a such thing as over-thrifting? Lol!

In the end I didn't even buy anything amazing, just a couple small things. 

After the flea market, we were hungry. Nearby was a little herb farm with a cafe and handcraft boutique. It was on a river and the sun was shining. We were blessed with really beautiful weather. 

After refueling with coffee, we decided to take the scenic route home by driving down literally "scenery road". :)

There were "fields of gold".
I had to stop the car and get out to take a picture. It was more beautiful in person!
 

Further down the road was an awesome berry farm, where you can pick your own strawberries and raspberries. They had a little cafe and shop to buy the local goods. 

There was this amazing view from the fields:

A closer-up photo of the strawberry rows...

There were also some farm animals to admire. 

This pretty hen seemed almost like she was posing for me. 

As was this rooster. He was rather protective of his ladies. 

There was also a little herd or flock (whatever the correct term is...) of mini goats.

CUUUUUUTE!

I've never been one for goats, but these little guys were so cute and friendly, they changed my mind about goats. They ate and ate and ate... corn, willow branches, weeds (thanks to some kids), and our pea shells. 

Ooooh sheep!

After my travel companions were able to drag me away from the animals (literally), we continued our drive to the local lake beach. Gorgeous photo op!

After we reached the end of the road, we drove the backroads to the next town to see where my dad grew up before his family moved to California in the 1950s. 

Interesting and fun day for sure!

The hubster and I were so excited about driving around the countryside, since it's our dream to have a secluded little farm to putter around on one day. :)

And something that has absolutely nothing to do with anything, my hubby went foraging through the forest with my dad and our big bear and found these chanterelles... YUM!

We had a chanterelle-meatball cream sauce with potatoes. 

So now I'm almost caught up with the blog... Just a garden post I need to upload pictures for... Expect that soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!