is almost over! I had my final exam today and all that is left is one more class tomorrow and my reviews and then I'm done! WOO HOO!
My NJ Finns made it to the final on fantasy football! YES! Sorry Dre... I'll be playing Husker Heaven this week. We only played each other once during the regular season and he beat me badly! I hope to get my revenge this week!
Thank You Saara for the chocolate and Salmiakki! I'll send you your salad dressing sometime this week.
Marianne. X-mas is on the 24th, do NOT open your present before then. Just because there was no note saying do-not-open-before-christmas, doesn't mean it's acceptable to do so! That's for you El Viiru! You and Elviira will have second x-mas is March, I was too cheap to send the other stuff.
Marja. En tiä tuliko paketti jo mut jos tuli...lahjat ei oo paketoitu. Artun lahjat on Conversen muovipussissa, Lailan lahjat on sikin sokin mut ne sä pystyt päätteleen ja sit sun ja Ybin on pohjalla. Siellä on kortti joka kertoo mitä sä sait ja mitä Ybi. Pystyt kyl päätteleen ne itekki!
T is having a coaching class right now downstairs so I'm upstairs blogging, watching TV and wrapping presents.I'm yet to wrap any of them...better get to it soon, but before that, we need to talk about my favorite subject, the american/east coast/NJ weather! We had our Global Ed. holiday party yesterday...in a almost 20 degree C weather! We had to have the A/C on for god's sakes! Who spends a CHRISTMAS party in a summery/springy weather?!?!?! I did not feel x-masy at all. But wait, the story isn't over! This morning we woke up to rain and about 5 degree C temperatures. When I left for work at 10am it was hailing (sato rakeita) and when I got to work, it was SNOWING!!! the day before you could have worn shorts and today every possible solid/liquid material was falling from the sky! SERIOUSLY?!?!? Tomorrow is supposed to be the same and ice on top of that. Can't wait! Fortunately I can stay in bed for as long as I want to because my class starts at 8pm. I will get off bed before noon, I promise!
Btw...It's weird wishing people happy holidays. In Finland we always wish merry x-mas and don't even think about people who might celebrate other holidays. You have to be so politically correct here. Take everyone's religion into consideration. We didn't have office christmas party, it was a holiday party. You see these signs for happy holidays...it's weird. I don't think I even knew/know anyone in Finland who is Jewish...I think all our african students in TAMK were christian and celebrated x-mas. Not sure what the chinese celebrated. It's just weird. But me, I celebrate x-mas so if you wanna wish me merry or happy something, wish me merry x-mas!
More later. Öitä!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Pictures
T and Sox's stockings. Yes, the cats have stockings too!
Bailey and mine stockings.
Eagles x-mas decorations. T is crazy about her Eagles!
All of our stockings together. And Sox having a little snack.
Our x-mas tree. The picture is little fuzzy because I took it without the flash. I wanted to show the pretty lights and it was too bright with the flash...Pretty tree dontcha think?The weekend
It's been a long weekend but finally we are home and sort of relaxing. Looks like the NJ Finns are finally on track to beat the Virginia Sammy's but it's still on-going match so...keep your fingers crossed!
On Thursday I had my bone scan from which I should get some results next week. On Friday I finally was able to go to the post office and sent the gifts so Finland is now covered. Friday night the cleaning lady was scheduled to come at 6pm. T thought it would be a good idea for her to come here a little earlier since it took them 3 hours the last time and I was home anyway so she could start earlier, finish sooner and we could get our home back sooner than 11:30 like the last time...remember last time how she got lost, could NOT listen to directions, did not know how to spell T's last name to get through the gate...yeah, same thing this time around. T called her on Friday to ask if she was still coming because she had not called. She said she was gonna be a little late cuz her son needed a ride after work, should be here around 7...T tells me to be on the look-out for her. T comes home around 7 and the woman is nowhere to be seen(or heard). It's 7:20 when T calls her and she was outside. That was the final call, if she had been far we would have told her to not to come. First impression...second impression...NOT GOOD! We told her to focus on the floor because last time the couches were not moved and there was a dust bunny the size of NJ state behind the bar...cat hair is accumulating as we speak so if we have someone come to clean we really need them to also REMOVE the cat hair...
We left to do some grocery shopping and then on our way home we decided to stop by at Target to check out their x-mas tree selection. We decided on a fake tree even though it's something that I haven't had before since we have he cats and they apparently love x-mas trees so much that they wanna climb them and that's not good with 2 15 pound/8kg cats...not to mention because of the lights and the ornaments. So we got our tree and on our way home the cleaner calls that they are almost ready. That was only 2 hours later...We were not happy with them and just the fact that they were always late, no follow-up what so ever and they weren't all that awesome to begin with...we are gonna try someone else. But we now have our tree up and we love it. It had colored lights on it, we used T's ornaments, bought some red and silver tinsel and Voila! We have our tree! Bailey and Sox love it too. How do I know this you ask? Because Friday night after we went to bed I heard a cat gagging, went to see what was going on, saw puke upstairs on the carpet, saw puke downstairs and on Saturday morning T found some more puke next to the tree! Bailey had been eating the pine needles and wasn't feeling too fresh afterwards...then this morning there presents were all over the living room floor and the tree skirt was not under the tree anymore. One day we're gonna come home and the tree is gonna be down...
We also bought stocking holders and we now have our stockings in place too! I love the stocking tradition. And T buys the best stocking stuffers!
On Saturday we headed to Dunkin Donuts in the morning, went to do the rest of our grocery shopping and then came home. We showered and changed and left to see T's mom quickly before going to see T's sister Victoria in her dance studio's adaptation of the "Nutcracker". Her brother Johnny and his wife JoeAnn were there too as was her dad, his wife and T's other sister Olivia. Victoria's part took maybe a minute if either that but she was great. We were laughing because as she was tap dancing she was yelling to the girl next to her while smiling. I doubt none of the dancers will make it big...but it was good fun and Victoria personally invited us to see it so of course we had to go!
After the show we went to T's mom's house and were thinking about going to the mall to do some x-mas shopping. Her mom wasn't in the mood so we ordered some Chinese and went to check out few stores in Woodbury Commons. Her mom's yard and the street leading to her house look like a bomb hit it! Last week's ice storm really hit it hard. Some house's in the area are still without power and T's friend Chris was evacuated because they don't know when the power will be restored. There were trees and branches everywhere and you were lucky to get through the street to her mom's house.
This morning we went to help her cousin Celeste to put her dining room table together. It had a glass top that she wasn't able to lift by herself. Afterwards she took us to IHOP, the international house of pancakes for breakfast. We came home around 1:30 and have been doing some cooking and surfing and watching football since. My NJ Finns are playing for the place in the final and T's Paksut Kissat are playing for 5th place. It's looking good for me and PK is not out just yet. She still has 6 players left, 2 today and then 4 tomorrow...All I really need is for Terrell Owens to suck tonight, maybe shed few tears while he's at it and I should be through to the finals. But I won't announce it just yet!
I have one more week to go in school and then the semester is over! We have our Global Ed. holiday party tomorrow, I have a mock panel tomorrow night, Eagles are playing tomorrow night, exam on Tuesday and a presentation on Wednesday and then it's off to Christmas holiday. Almost. Few more days of work too.
Happy December!
On Thursday I had my bone scan from which I should get some results next week. On Friday I finally was able to go to the post office and sent the gifts so Finland is now covered. Friday night the cleaning lady was scheduled to come at 6pm. T thought it would be a good idea for her to come here a little earlier since it took them 3 hours the last time and I was home anyway so she could start earlier, finish sooner and we could get our home back sooner than 11:30 like the last time...remember last time how she got lost, could NOT listen to directions, did not know how to spell T's last name to get through the gate...yeah, same thing this time around. T called her on Friday to ask if she was still coming because she had not called. She said she was gonna be a little late cuz her son needed a ride after work, should be here around 7...T tells me to be on the look-out for her. T comes home around 7 and the woman is nowhere to be seen(or heard). It's 7:20 when T calls her and she was outside. That was the final call, if she had been far we would have told her to not to come. First impression...second impression...NOT GOOD! We told her to focus on the floor because last time the couches were not moved and there was a dust bunny the size of NJ state behind the bar...cat hair is accumulating as we speak so if we have someone come to clean we really need them to also REMOVE the cat hair...
We left to do some grocery shopping and then on our way home we decided to stop by at Target to check out their x-mas tree selection. We decided on a fake tree even though it's something that I haven't had before since we have he cats and they apparently love x-mas trees so much that they wanna climb them and that's not good with 2 15 pound/8kg cats...not to mention because of the lights and the ornaments. So we got our tree and on our way home the cleaner calls that they are almost ready. That was only 2 hours later...We were not happy with them and just the fact that they were always late, no follow-up what so ever and they weren't all that awesome to begin with...we are gonna try someone else. But we now have our tree up and we love it. It had colored lights on it, we used T's ornaments, bought some red and silver tinsel and Voila! We have our tree! Bailey and Sox love it too. How do I know this you ask? Because Friday night after we went to bed I heard a cat gagging, went to see what was going on, saw puke upstairs on the carpet, saw puke downstairs and on Saturday morning T found some more puke next to the tree! Bailey had been eating the pine needles and wasn't feeling too fresh afterwards...then this morning there presents were all over the living room floor and the tree skirt was not under the tree anymore. One day we're gonna come home and the tree is gonna be down...
We also bought stocking holders and we now have our stockings in place too! I love the stocking tradition. And T buys the best stocking stuffers!
On Saturday we headed to Dunkin Donuts in the morning, went to do the rest of our grocery shopping and then came home. We showered and changed and left to see T's mom quickly before going to see T's sister Victoria in her dance studio's adaptation of the "Nutcracker". Her brother Johnny and his wife JoeAnn were there too as was her dad, his wife and T's other sister Olivia. Victoria's part took maybe a minute if either that but she was great. We were laughing because as she was tap dancing she was yelling to the girl next to her while smiling. I doubt none of the dancers will make it big...but it was good fun and Victoria personally invited us to see it so of course we had to go!
After the show we went to T's mom's house and were thinking about going to the mall to do some x-mas shopping. Her mom wasn't in the mood so we ordered some Chinese and went to check out few stores in Woodbury Commons. Her mom's yard and the street leading to her house look like a bomb hit it! Last week's ice storm really hit it hard. Some house's in the area are still without power and T's friend Chris was evacuated because they don't know when the power will be restored. There were trees and branches everywhere and you were lucky to get through the street to her mom's house.
This morning we went to help her cousin Celeste to put her dining room table together. It had a glass top that she wasn't able to lift by herself. Afterwards she took us to IHOP, the international house of pancakes for breakfast. We came home around 1:30 and have been doing some cooking and surfing and watching football since. My NJ Finns are playing for the place in the final and T's Paksut Kissat are playing for 5th place. It's looking good for me and PK is not out just yet. She still has 6 players left, 2 today and then 4 tomorrow...All I really need is for Terrell Owens to suck tonight, maybe shed few tears while he's at it and I should be through to the finals. But I won't announce it just yet!
I have one more week to go in school and then the semester is over! We have our Global Ed. holiday party tomorrow, I have a mock panel tomorrow night, Eagles are playing tomorrow night, exam on Tuesday and a presentation on Wednesday and then it's off to Christmas holiday. Almost. Few more days of work too.
Happy December!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I'm radiating
yeah, I said it! I'm so radiating I could be seen from the space! You ever seen the pictures from space during the night where you can see the big metropolitans just light up the sky? And Sahara and places like that are totally black? I had the first phase of my bone scan few hours ago and I was following the picture from the screen. My left foot would definitely be the East Coast of USA and my right foot would be Sahara...my left foot was lighting up the screen! I'm home now, about to leave for the next phase of the scanning. They told me to drink lots of fluids and eat in between and since the hospital is 5 minute bus ride away from home, I decided to come home for the time in-between. After that I'm going to the post Office and play Santa's helper!
There are some people who will have continuing x-mas in March when we come to Finland. Packages would be too heavy and/or big so we decided to bring them with us in March instead!
Merry bone scanning! I'm off to radiate some more!
There are some people who will have continuing x-mas in March when we come to Finland. Packages would be too heavy and/or big so we decided to bring them with us in March instead!
Merry bone scanning! I'm off to radiate some more!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
What do you write about...
when you have absolutely nothing of importance to say? The Weather of course! I'm telling you, it is CRAZY here! One day it's freezing beyond belief, the next it's 15 degrees C! Like today...it's raining but you could wear shorts if you wanted to. 2 days ago it was really cold, I was bundled up like the Michelin man...yesterday it was warmer and today it's really summerish! We checked the forecast yesterday so I knew that it was gonna be warm...still I put on a warm winter jacket, winter boot etc...only to open the garage door and see that it was raining. My winter boot isn't one of those that you wear in rain so I had to change into a sneaker. My boot boot isn't one for rain either so I had to wrap my foot in a plastic bag. I was a little bit late leaving so I had a little bit of an exercise this morning walking fast to the bus stop...my fast and actual fast don't necessarily mean the same thing but I was fast in boot wearing community!
I was supposed to send the x-mas presents to Finland today but I will most likely do it either tomorrow (depending on how the test goes tomorrow and how long it takes) or on Friday. I have nothing to do on Friday so it might be the better option. So if you think you have been a good girl or a boy and think Santa will send you presents, you might expect something in the mail. Santa might be a bit busy delivering these things so he might take until after x-mas. I don't know when exactly the last day of sending stuff to Europe is so until they get there, we won't know for sure.
I still have 3 more classes this semester and then the semester is done. I feel 3 A's coming on but you never know. At the beginning of the semester in my Geos class we were told all kinds of things that can bring the grade down and it all sounded so strict. As the semester has advanced, I've gotten 9/10 and 10/10 from my questions and reviews...I have not put too much thought or energy into doing these so I have been surprised how easy it is...I have a mock panel review on Monday and then I'll be wiser as to how the class went. On Tuesday I will have my lone final exam. We were given 8 questions, he's gonna choose 6 for the exam and we will answer to 4 of them. Simple enough. I'll take my book to the hospital tomorrow and study. I finished my paper for this class yesterday during the class and now am waiting for the grade. Next Wednesday is my final health class and I'll present one of my papers I wrote for this class. And then onto a 2 week vacation when I'll be hanging out with the cats, watching TV and you know, be lazy!
But before that, we need to go buy a x-mas tree, decorate it and the house, go see T's sister in nutcracker, go see the x-mas tree in NYC, do some more x-mas shopping, see CJ and Steph and celebrate Christmas!
I'm off to eating my pathetic little salad lunch...I wanted to go get some soup but it's raining and I'm made of sugar so...what can you do?
Later peeps!
I was supposed to send the x-mas presents to Finland today but I will most likely do it either tomorrow (depending on how the test goes tomorrow and how long it takes) or on Friday. I have nothing to do on Friday so it might be the better option. So if you think you have been a good girl or a boy and think Santa will send you presents, you might expect something in the mail. Santa might be a bit busy delivering these things so he might take until after x-mas. I don't know when exactly the last day of sending stuff to Europe is so until they get there, we won't know for sure.
I still have 3 more classes this semester and then the semester is done. I feel 3 A's coming on but you never know. At the beginning of the semester in my Geos class we were told all kinds of things that can bring the grade down and it all sounded so strict. As the semester has advanced, I've gotten 9/10 and 10/10 from my questions and reviews...I have not put too much thought or energy into doing these so I have been surprised how easy it is...I have a mock panel review on Monday and then I'll be wiser as to how the class went. On Tuesday I will have my lone final exam. We were given 8 questions, he's gonna choose 6 for the exam and we will answer to 4 of them. Simple enough. I'll take my book to the hospital tomorrow and study. I finished my paper for this class yesterday during the class and now am waiting for the grade. Next Wednesday is my final health class and I'll present one of my papers I wrote for this class. And then onto a 2 week vacation when I'll be hanging out with the cats, watching TV and you know, be lazy!
But before that, we need to go buy a x-mas tree, decorate it and the house, go see T's sister in nutcracker, go see the x-mas tree in NYC, do some more x-mas shopping, see CJ and Steph and celebrate Christmas!
I'm off to eating my pathetic little salad lunch...I wanted to go get some soup but it's raining and I'm made of sugar so...what can you do?
Later peeps!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Testing testing one two three...
I will have more testing done on my foot. This will happen on this coming Thursday at 9am. They told me I'll be injected with the dye at 9, can go home for few hours after that and then come back for the scan about 2 or 3 hours later. It's gonna happen close to our home so I probably can go home but I will see how I feel. I will need to check the bus schedule if it's worth it. I can always read for my exam which is next week or do some other homework...or just read a book or do absolutely nothing at all. I have a feeling I won't have the energy to focus on homework and stuff.
I hope third time's the charm...
I hope third time's the charm...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Back to reality
Thanksgiving is over and it's back to reality now. I'm back to school for few more weeks and T is back at work. Then it's 5 weeks off which I hope to work a bit more. Maybe be able to save some money for our trip to Finland and pay the rent.
Despite us trying SO HARD, we did not make it to midnight madness on thanksgiving. JoeAnn was hungover, me and T were kinda blah and so was Erin. Amanda talked a great game about going to BestBuy at 3am but buckled. A mother of a 7-month old needs her sleep! We had every intention of going but the Eagles were on at 8:15 and we had to go to Billy's to watch it because T's mom didn't have the particular channel it was on...We had every intention of going even though JoeAnn called midway through the game and said she was not able to make it. We had every intention of going as Erin had a handicap sticker for her car so that we could drive there and get parking on handicap place BUT...we did a "quick" drive by, the traffic was terrible so we decided to go park at T's moms and then walk. Yeah...we walked alright! To upstairs and bed! LOL!
I had my Doctor's appointment the Friday after and she still couldn't figure out what's going on. So I'm having more testing done. She said I could have something called "regional complex pain syndrome" which basically means when MRI and X-rays don't show anything and you don't heal and the Docs don't know what you have, that's what they call it. So I will have more testing done.
It was fun seeing her family and spend a holiday with them but there's something to be said about being at home. We have slowly turned this place home, getting our own stuff together and we have decorated etc so that this place looks like us. It's great coming home and lay on the couch, get your feet up and watch some TV. It's great when the cats come over and welcome you home. It just feels like home and it's mostly because T is here.
I still have 1 paper to write for school, one final exam which won't be terrible since we have the questions and answers and one more homework for my Monday's class. Then I'll be done. The school is closed from the 25th until the end of December and my boss isn't working on the week of x-mas so I guess I'm having a 2 week vacation. Great except T is working during that time and I want to work to get rent money. I guess I will study for my comprehensive exam is March...YEAH, right! I'll try but...
T went to the Eagles game today so I'm home alone right now. Her sister-in-law Amanda and Amanda's dad and brother had tix to the Giant's-Eagles game and invited T t go with them...All of them are Giants fans and I guess they wanted an Eagles fan to abuse so T will be at the game today. She is bundled up like she was going to the frozen tundra. Forecast says +few degrees C, snow/rain and possible wind gusts up to 50 km/h... I'll be watching from the comfort of our couch with the cats, make some guacamole and chill...T will be home around 5 I guess. Leaves me good time to write my paper.
I'm done with my x-mas shopping for the most part. T is done until I see something else I wanna get for her, I have my family done, all I need to do is send the presents...We're doing secret Santa with T's brothers and their better halves...which is not all that secret anymore. I got Billy and I already bought his present. JoeAnn got me and apparently the presents are awesome! Presents as in more than one! She told T and T told me they are great! I can't wait!No Idea what it is but it'll be awesome I'm sure! All I know is that it's not a handbag...I made sure people knew that wasn't for me! T, JoeAnn and Amanda were talking about handbags just before we drew the names so I told everybody $500 handbags were not for me!
We moved some furniture around yesterday to make room for a x-mas tree. We went through T's x-mas decorations also to see what we have. We brought some of them downstairs and decorated a little. We're probably gonna go get a tree next week. We decided on a fake tree which I've never had but with 2 cats who love the smell of outdoors we decided it's probably best to have a fake one so that they won't climb up to it. Or try.
We went to a x-mas party yesterday that our friend Oscar and his family threw. It was good times! Good food, good company...First one of the season. I have a work x-mas party tomorrow or is it next Monday and T has 2 parties next week. I'm ready for the actual x-mas though...It will be fun but I will miss my family. It'll be the third x-mas ever that I don't spend with my own family.
Despite us trying SO HARD, we did not make it to midnight madness on thanksgiving. JoeAnn was hungover, me and T were kinda blah and so was Erin. Amanda talked a great game about going to BestBuy at 3am but buckled. A mother of a 7-month old needs her sleep! We had every intention of going but the Eagles were on at 8:15 and we had to go to Billy's to watch it because T's mom didn't have the particular channel it was on...We had every intention of going even though JoeAnn called midway through the game and said she was not able to make it. We had every intention of going as Erin had a handicap sticker for her car so that we could drive there and get parking on handicap place BUT...we did a "quick" drive by, the traffic was terrible so we decided to go park at T's moms and then walk. Yeah...we walked alright! To upstairs and bed! LOL!
I had my Doctor's appointment the Friday after and she still couldn't figure out what's going on. So I'm having more testing done. She said I could have something called "regional complex pain syndrome" which basically means when MRI and X-rays don't show anything and you don't heal and the Docs don't know what you have, that's what they call it. So I will have more testing done.
It was fun seeing her family and spend a holiday with them but there's something to be said about being at home. We have slowly turned this place home, getting our own stuff together and we have decorated etc so that this place looks like us. It's great coming home and lay on the couch, get your feet up and watch some TV. It's great when the cats come over and welcome you home. It just feels like home and it's mostly because T is here.
I still have 1 paper to write for school, one final exam which won't be terrible since we have the questions and answers and one more homework for my Monday's class. Then I'll be done. The school is closed from the 25th until the end of December and my boss isn't working on the week of x-mas so I guess I'm having a 2 week vacation. Great except T is working during that time and I want to work to get rent money. I guess I will study for my comprehensive exam is March...YEAH, right! I'll try but...
T went to the Eagles game today so I'm home alone right now. Her sister-in-law Amanda and Amanda's dad and brother had tix to the Giant's-Eagles game and invited T t go with them...All of them are Giants fans and I guess they wanted an Eagles fan to abuse so T will be at the game today. She is bundled up like she was going to the frozen tundra. Forecast says +few degrees C, snow/rain and possible wind gusts up to 50 km/h... I'll be watching from the comfort of our couch with the cats, make some guacamole and chill...T will be home around 5 I guess. Leaves me good time to write my paper.
I'm done with my x-mas shopping for the most part. T is done until I see something else I wanna get for her, I have my family done, all I need to do is send the presents...We're doing secret Santa with T's brothers and their better halves...which is not all that secret anymore. I got Billy and I already bought his present. JoeAnn got me and apparently the presents are awesome! Presents as in more than one! She told T and T told me they are great! I can't wait!No Idea what it is but it'll be awesome I'm sure! All I know is that it's not a handbag...I made sure people knew that wasn't for me! T, JoeAnn and Amanda were talking about handbags just before we drew the names so I told everybody $500 handbags were not for me!
We moved some furniture around yesterday to make room for a x-mas tree. We went through T's x-mas decorations also to see what we have. We brought some of them downstairs and decorated a little. We're probably gonna go get a tree next week. We decided on a fake tree which I've never had but with 2 cats who love the smell of outdoors we decided it's probably best to have a fake one so that they won't climb up to it. Or try.
We went to a x-mas party yesterday that our friend Oscar and his family threw. It was good times! Good food, good company...First one of the season. I have a work x-mas party tomorrow or is it next Monday and T has 2 parties next week. I'm ready for the actual x-mas though...It will be fun but I will miss my family. It'll be the third x-mas ever that I don't spend with my own family.
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