Happy Midsummer!

I wish everyone a super fun Midsummer!

I have two weeks of vacation from the Midsummer and will most likely have a blog break for that time. Take care and see you soon!

Offshore

We are sail boat owners now, how cool is that!

We bought a sail boat together with A's parents'. A's family used to have a sail boat quite many years ago and now they had missed sailing so much that they wanted to get one again. My family used to have a motor boat when I was a child, so I'm not that unfamiliar with boating, but sailing is something that I need to learn. I have sailed a little before with some friends' boats, but I cannot do anything in a sail boat without instructions.

The sail boat is old of course and it does require some maintenance. Besides the yearly maintenance it could use new covers for the seating and sleeping. And curtains could be renewed. Maybe those projects are something I could work on the winter.

This summer we will just enjoy the boat as it is now. Pretty exciting!

Rhubarb pie and some minor decluttering

Everything in Finland seems to happen on summer. We have not spent much any time at home. Every evening we've had something and weekends too have been full. Except yesterday on Sunday afternoon. We had such a good Sunday feel, we had an afternoon nap, read books and magazines, listened to some radio. But we did also spend a little time decluttering. I was able to remove some items from my clothes cabinet and A also. A did trash a pair of shoes and desided to sell motorbike trousers and jacket. I removed some random items from my bookshelf and toilet cabinet.

As a reward of the decluttering I made a rhubarb pie. We didn't declutter much yet, but it was a such a good start.

Two things I've bought using the kid as an excuse

Odd thing is that before I have never been that interested in children or their stuff, but ever since we did agree to one day to try to have a kid I have thought about buying two things when the plans of a kid become more real.

One of those items is the Iittala mug Mymble's mother. This purchase is really for me, just used the kid as an excuse to get that mug. I always thought that when I will be a mom I will use that mug. I know, it makes no sense. Especially as I was just explaining this Monday that we are drowning in stuff.
 

Also I have always loved the Bo boo print from Marimekko. I used to use a sheet very similar to the Bo boo design when I was a kid (which I by the way still have and am planning to make one thing from it). When I was visiting the Marimekko factory sale months ago I bought the Bo boo dish set. I know the kid could eat from any other dish we have, but I still wanted to get these. There is no sense in this purchase either. It's just something I had imagined the kid to use, when ever we would have one. Most likely the kid will eventually drop the bowl or plate on the floor and then the horribly expensive Bo boo dish will get shattered. But never mind that. 

Anyway these items had been a part of the when-we-will-have-a-kid dream and I guess I had to get them to make the dream come real so to say.

Conservatory vegetables 2013

Like last year I have planted some tomatoes in the conservatory. This time I bought the tomato seedlings, I did not even try to grow my own this year, well I actually did buy the seeds but then postponed the whole sowing for so long that I knew it had gotten too late. I bought two varieties, three tall regular ones and two bush ones.

I used the same rope support system on my tomatoes as last year. It worked very well last year so why wouldn't it work now too. I also bought one water melon plant, which I hope will also climb up on the rope. In the red bucket is a potato. That I planted before any plans about making my own potato growing bags. 

Also on the table with the bush tomatoes we have some cucumber seedlings and A has his own project... strawberries. All the seedlings will move to raised bed outside once they get just a bit bigger.

General yapping about stuff

I feel like we are drowning in stuff. Having a kid is not helping in this, on the contrary it has brought up the horrible feel that we cannot fit the kid's stuff anywhere or yet alone fit the kid anywhere.

There are certain items children need, actually there aren't that many things, but some of them are big, like for instance the crib and the strollers. The maternity package also contained huge amount of stuff that I know will be useful, but it also seems quite excessive to suddenly have huge box of stuff that no one has thought where it will be stored. Also I have been making lots of things for the kid, mostly I've made all of the things from materials we used to already have. So in theory we have not got more stuff from what I've made, but previously all my material was not lying on the office floor so it just seemed that it was more in control.

It's still almost three months before the kid is supposed to be born. It seems really difficult to store the kid's stuff for that time. Usually when I get something I'd like to put it in place immediately, but now it seems so useless to put everything in place, because that means that some of our own stuff will need to move and there really is no point staging our home like it already has a kid. But also there is no point postponing of getting all the stuff. I like to be prepared and not have to buy all things in a hurry in last minute. So I have tried to find temporary storage places for the kid's stuff.

What makes this most ridiculous is that for people of two or even three our apartment is supposed to be BIG. I mean we have almost 100 square meters (1070 square feet), many people live in a lot smaller apartments. A lot. Only explanation is that we have too much stuff, since nothing fits anywhere and everything is so darn difficult to put in place. That also means that it is difficult to find places for the kids stuff, temporary or permanent place.

On last Monday Christina posted about radical decluttering of her clothes. She got rid of about 75 % of her clothes. I feel like we should do something equally radical, but to all our stuff. I know that is not very realistic, but something needs to be done. The kid we are having is not going to be with us just temporarily, s/he will need more and more space when s/he grows up. This is quite obvious but I think I only just realized this. I'm not sure if A has realized this yet.

I hope to have some serious purging, decluttering and simplifying done on the summer.

Potato growing bags, part one

I got potatoes from a friend, not for eating but for growing new ones. I have had the potatoes on my window sill for quite some time, maybe even too long. But I don't have any place to grow potatoes, except on containers on the terrace. So I figured I could buy buckets or those growing bags. But buckets are not very beautiful and the growing bags I've seen sold in Finland are either hideous or ridiculously priced. 

I had an idea of making my own bags, but then I got some white plastic from work and figured I could use that to make myself some growing bags. I knew the plastic itself would not hold up so I also got some wire net and double sided tape.

I made a frame from the net and lined it with the plastic. I used bits of the double side tape to keep the plastic in shape bit better. 

I made three of these bags or wire baskets, or what ever these should be called, untill I realized that they look like trash cans. Not really the nice, modern look I was after. So I will return to use the original idea I had and I will make new potato growing bags for the rest of the potatoes.

Part two of potato growing bags coming up soon...

Maternity package

I have been really anxiously waiting for the maternity package to arrive and now it's here!! Yay!

For anyone Finnish this will be a very boring post, since everyone here knows the contents of the package. I'm not sure why I have been so eagerly waiting for the package, maybe because that somehow makes the whole waiting of the baby more real.

So the state of Finland gives every mother a maternity package and according to the Kela website the package is quite a unique thing worldwide to receive. The package contains all the basic clothing and gear for the child for his/her first few months. There are jumpsuits, romper suits, overalls, sleeping bag, bath thermometer, lotion, towel, all the things one could ever think a child would require. The package has been quite similar for years, only the colours and fabrics change a bit yearly. When I was a baby my mother got a similar package and when my sister was born she again received the package. I remember that the year I was born the sleeping bag was brown and when my sister was born the sleeping bag was light coloured and had yellow and light blue and light pink circles on it. 

Because of the package all babies from certain years dress very uniformly and some people dislike the package because of it. But that is not an issue for me, I think you can show your personality with other things. And besides, the package is never enough to fully clothe a baby, you still need to get some stuff on your own.

From all the things in the package I have been most eagerly waiting for the box itself. I know that sounds funny, but the size of the box has been the same for at least 30 years. It is sized so that it can be used as a crib and many people do use it as such for the first few months when the regular crib seems so huge. My mom had a cover for the box when I was a baby and for 30 years she and then I have been saving that cover. Now I'm able to put that same cover on the box for my kid. That makes me feel quite emotional.

If you are interested in seeing all the stuff that is in the maternity package, please check Kela webpage, they have a very good listing there. Also if you are expecting a baby, but do not have maternity package available you can check that site to see what are the most essential baby gear you might need.