1. Enough me time (recharging time) at home where I get to do whatever I want, which includes kicking my ass to exercise more. Love the endorphin!
2. When the thermometer shows that indoor temperature is cooler than outside temperature. Summer is on, baby! :-D
3. Reading a magazine at MIL's place with the sun on my back and the wind blowing the leaves, creating beautiful shadows on the living room floor.
4. Being reminded again as to how precious my husband is. How patient he has been with me and how he's never made me feel like an idiot nor has he ever told me that I'm stupid or an idiot.
5. The things we take for granted: the ability to walk, to eat, to sing, to hear, to drink on our own without anybody's help.
6. Older blog posts that remind me of some details that I've either completely or half forgotten.
7. Finding the old songs that have been playing in my head because someone have compiled the songs in a youtube video. I watched these wuxi series on VHS tapes when I was little (except the last one on the list). The women used to be my heroines: the kind that knew martial arts and could therefore protect themselves ha ha...And I used to try to imitate their hairdo. Ahem...:-D How nostalgic!
8. The roses have finally started blooming. YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!
9. Clearing up my computer desk because husband had bought a new bookshelf, so I could move the piles of books to an empty shelf. Nice to have more space!
10. Printing some raindrop photos and putting them near my computer desk and one photo on the kitchen wall. Every time I look at them, I remember the feeling I had when I took the photos: I felt like a fairy in a fairy land, surrounded by thousands and thousands of beautiful raindrops.
1. This month I managed to save more money for our upcoming Indo/Singapore trip. YAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!! Thankful to have a job still.
2. Next week I'll have my first batch of summer holiday (not going anywhere because need to save money for the Indo/Sgp trip and hubby has to work), but looking forward to recharging and doing some spring cleaning and reading. :-D Oh, and daydreaming about having this in Indo:
3. Hubby's patience, sense of humor, and good nature. I rarely see him in a bad mood (well, except when his computer does weird stuff but that's understandable because at work he's been battling with computers anyway) but he tolerates me so well when I'm in a bad mood. In fact, he often makes me laugh when I'm in a bad mood (don't ask me how, he just does!). How amazing is that?
4. Writing this fun piece for a writing challenge entitled: "If I was the woman next door..."
If I was the woman next door, I'd spend more time playing to my heart's
content and sleeping. I would come and go as I please, knowing that when
I come back home, someone will welcome me with open arms and heart. I
would spend less money on clothing and make-up and just present myself
au naturel, because I believe I look best that way. Oh, but I do like
grooming myself to the best of my ability. That's for sure.
If I
was the woman next door, I'd say no when I'm not in the mood to say yes
and I would reject visitors without feeling bad about it. Baby shower?
No, sorry, not interested. Laser party with my best friends? Bring it
on!
If I was the woman next door, I wouldn't befriend anyone that
I didn't feel like befriending, either. And I surely wouldn't even
think that I'm not doing anything productive by doing nothing, because
that's when I recharge and regroup after all the fun and rewarding
activities I've done. Here I am doing
nothing...auuummmm...recharge...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...Whoops! Sorry, this
whole recharging thing just made me kinda sleepy. Let me get back on
track.
Where was I? Oh yeah...if I was the woman next door, I'd
demand plenty of hugs and kisses and delicious food from my housemate.
I'd also focus more on the present than the future or the past. What
exciting thing that I can do right now? Is there anything worth doing at
the moment? Sleeping perhaps? Or cuddling with my housemate? Eyeing the
next door neighbour to check out what he's doing? Anyway, focusing on
the present is far more urgent, because don't they say that the present
is a gift? But well, maybe I get this all wrong, because after all, I'm
just a cat. Meow.
1. The roses aren't dead! I could see some green buds since yesterday. I cut a few dead branches (that had dead leaves on them) but left all the others alone. We'll see how they grow! Blur Ting, THANKS for your advice!
2. MIL bought some raffle tickets for us all (herself, her hubby, me, R2, R2's elder brother and girlfriend) on some occasion and R2 and I won something HA HA HA HA...Coffee and a set of salt-and-pepper shakers.
3. I saw a hare outside MIL's place - too bad it was too swift for me to take a pic of it, but still it made my day! :-D
4. Heaters!!! After 7 days of "early summer" (temp. 20-28'C), spring days came back with COLD mornings and showers that made us have to turn on our heaters again. Ah...thank GOD for heaters!
5. A boy said to a girl (they are VERY good playmates at the daycare): "You're my girlfriend" and they told us about it HI HI HI HI...SO cute!!!
6. Seeing buds growing in the garden patch.
7. When on the way home from MIL's house, we stopped by next to a vast field 'coz there were swans fighting. I could only take these pics from afar (too late to capture the heated battle between two swans - they were flapping their wings while standing upright on the grass):
First pic: Click to view a bigger version. Notice the swan flying away on the right side of the pic and yes, those are reindeer at the back! These two swans who stayed on the ground managed to win (I suppose). There were at least two contenders (unfortunately I only captured one of them in the pic) 'coz it all happened too quickly.
Another one - sorry for the lack of sharpness - it was hard to get a good pic when I had to be quick and I couldn't come closer - at least the zoom helped 'coz with my old camera, I wouldn't have been able to get this pic.
8. I'm ordering a used Wii CD and I'm going to order another one 'coz we need more game varieties for our exercise day on Wednesdays (and 'coz I've found a cheap one that I think might be suitable for us). :-D
9. Having a garden to work on (a pic of us raking the dead leaves last Saturday):
10. Receiving a HUGE sack of soil, compost, and 6 pansy plants from my MIL.
11. I accidentally cut R2's hair the wrong way - but he wasn't angry. Instead he just told me to cut it all off he he he...THANK GOD for a patient hubby!
12. Playing as a horse (a standing one) and having two kids ride on my back - one at a time, of course. It was FUN and they didn't want me to stop HA HA HA...oh dear...
1. Had a short conversation with two strangers that I passed by on my way to the daycare. It felt GOOD to chit-chat with strangers - something I had NEVER done before in my entire life! ;-D GO ME!!!
2. Running into this guy that worked in the city hall when I was working at the library. This guy has always had a smile on his face and it's always a PLEASURE to meet him. One time I even started a conversation with him on my way back home from the daycare. :-D
3. Hubby bought chili dip to eat with chips 'coz he knows how much I love chili. Honey, you're THE BEST!
4. Making funny faces with some of the "little people" in the daycare and playing Play Doh with them. It's FUN to play and be playful! :-d
5. This upcoming Friday we're planning on a "passion getaway" (read: a cheap getaway) to the cabin. Can't wait for it!!!
6. My colleagues said that I had done a good job in playing with the kids. --- though I know I can't do some things as well as they do (due to language limitations), but at least I know I've done something right and I'm thankful for their verbal confirmation.
8. Having a good, reliable second-hand bike (esp. 'coz I can't drive) - it's very handy when I need to buy groceries and I can put them in the bags behind me (esp. 'coz now we live a little bit farther away from the city centre compared to our ex-apartment).
9. Hubby - for putting up with me after all this time, for being SO patient, for never pushing the wrong buttons in me, for making me like myself more when I'm with him.
10. Holding hands with hubby EVERY SINGLE TIME we watch something together - this habit still continues until now. :-D
11. Today when I said goodbye to everybody, a little girl jumped onto me to give me a hug (I knelt down right away when I realized she wanted to do that) and another boy jumped over and another one followed suit. I toppled over backward and managed to make a table shift over at least 10 cm away due to the kids' attack HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...but it made my heart SO warm! :-D
12. Seeing an older boy helping the youngest girl with her zipper. If I were his Mom, I'd have felt SO proud of him - he's so helpful even without being asked! :-D
1. Tomorrow I'll be halfway through my training. WOOOHOOOO!!! It means I'm getting closer to going back to Indo. YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!
2. Listening to this voice singing this song...
3. Walking down memory lane by searching for old songs in youtube. Mmmmm...my, my...
4. We (me and my ex-elementary school friends) have found a good venue for our reunion in November and we've also found a good date, day, and time to make sure that the others who live outside of Bandung will be able to attend the party. YESSSSSSSSSSS!!! Can't wait!!!
5. Getting so much encouragement through emails that I get from different sources.
6. Hearing that a friend's bitterness has been lifted by God and knowing that she's now enjoying life to the fullest.
7. Seeing hubby's CUTE sleeping face in the morning. THANK GOD that He still gives us time together.
8. Being able to save on grocery budget 'coz I've been finding plenty of empty cans or bottles from the hotel rooms (and I've been selling them back to Lidl). WHOOOOOPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
9. Looking back and knowing that I've improved in terms of reading Finnish texts. Now I'm on page 84 of a teen novel. Two years ago reading one page of a children's book (where there are only 10 lines per page) took me SOOOO long.
10. A an ex-elementary school friend who was also my campus friend told me that my self-esteem has improved SO much during the time when I was in elementary school versus when I was at the uni. THANK YOU for the encouragement, friend!
11. When hubby took a few days off (due to plenty of overtime), he was the one who cooked. :-D It feels nice not having to cook every once in a while, esp. when I'm doing physical work like now. :-D
12. Having a patient hubby who NEVER yells at me. (I know I've written this down many times before, but I don't want to take this for granted)
13. Hubby's hands. I LOVE those gentle, big hands! :-D
1. I got cranky the other day (yes, again!) and my super patient hubby really knew how to make me smile. He took the initiative to wash the pile of dishes in the kitchen hi hi hi hi...That made me un-cranky! ;-D
2. Again hubby did something for me that he knew I'd need, even though it didn't even cross my mind. THANK YOU SO MUCH for thinking of MY needs, Honey!!!
3. We DID go to the cabin to spend a WONDERFUL night underneath a VERY STARRY sky (along with a beautiful golden crescent). SPLENDID!!! Oh, and did I mention that the cabin is the place where he proposed me? That's why that place will ALWAYS be memorable for me.
4. I laughed like crazy until tears came out of my eyes and I couldn't even stop to speak. Yes, that kind of laughter! It's been a while since I laughed like that, so it felt SO SO SO SO SO good!
5. My MIL told me about her mother's life story. I'm going to write about this later. I LOVE hearing stories as my Mom always tells me stories and my MIL really reminds me of my own mother. :-)))
6. Seeing a group of waxwings (or tilhi in Finnish) flying over me (about 1,5 metres ahead of me). It was quite a moment! I'd NEVER have been able to experience it had I stayed in Indo he he he...
7. My mind isn't so full of questions, pressures, and self-accusations anymore. I don't know how long this will last and when I get my answers, but I'm going to take it E-A-S-Y!
8. My brother sent me some family pics, including Ken's. He looks fatter now hi hi hi hi...Here he is:
