I have celebrated my birthday (32 years, yikes!) stitching "Rose Sampler" and noticed that I simply can NOT count. Or then little stitching gnomes restitch that thing when I am not watching...
There are extra rows between the alphabet (which is easy to fix, the sampler just will be longer) and it seems to me that they are also too close to the left border... AAARGH!
Regardless, progress!
(Previous pictures can be found here.)
Very Good Things
As some of you may have noticed I have been celebrating certain event in near future at Facebook and also in form of a little ticker on top of my blog...
We found a way to get reasonably priced tickets for Mr. Wonderful (as for some funny reason tickets are cheaper when purchased from here - of course purchasing them online always helps) and... He is coming home for the holidays!
Though the bad news is that he has to return Spain in January to wait for The Papers. Gah. And from there He travels to Nigeria for a while, luckily His brother arranges the tickets for Him.
Which is good news, and in the end we pay for all the plane tickets (Spain-Finland-Spain, Spain-Nigeria-Spain) 80€ which is very good news. (Rough estimation of the whole cost, had we paid them ourselves, is appr. 1100€ ($1,621)...)
Knowing that He is coming home has made me go ga-ga. Had I the money I would redecorate whole apartment for holidays, but I guess it's lucky that I don't have the money, so I have just bought little things... like gorgeous satin bedsheets.
But I am waiting to cook Him all the Finnish Yule specialties and I guess we will have more food than we need when I am done.
Dear Santa
I have been a good girl (ermm... well, relatively) and all I want for Yule is my Wonderful and this:All I can say is:
I got curious and just checked that the design, accessory pack and postages would be only 45.5€! I may be tempted... even more if I get more money on 15th than I anticipated (I will get rest of my holiday pay (actually rest of the payment for returning from your yearly holiday - funny term, and thought) in addition to my wage) - but that would mean getting 1300€ (because there are bills to pay and stuff) and I really don't think it will happen (I am paid twice a month, which makes it highly unlikely to get such sum after taxes even though I get rest of my holiday pay).
Spain is not all THAT bad
After everything nasty I may have said or thought about Spanish system I wish to voice out that there is at least one good thing in there (in addition to my Wonderful): money transfers through bank from .es to .fi are much faster than from .fi to .es - though it is also more expensive in there.
Basically money transfers within EU should cost only as much as they would cost within the country of origin because, like people and things, money should be able to move freely within Union area. BUT when I make EU transfer at bank counter it is 30 cents and when the same thing is done in Spain it's 3 € - admittedly it is also faster, though I was just thinking that transfers to Spain may take three days (instead of appr. 1 from there to here) because Spanish banks want to make money with the interest as it is stated that EU transfers can, but should not exceed (otherwise one is applicable for some kind of refund, afaik), take as long as three days.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that local banks wouldn't do the same thing, but obviously they like to play that trick with local transfers: I noticed one day that even my pay came ~00:45 and all the bills which were due that day were taken from my account, but still showed in my "Confirmed Future Payments" until 8 am when bank day started.
And transfers between banks (companies, not locations) take 1-2 days even though the payments could be made instantly with modern technology.
But then, I don't pay much service fees so I don't mind that too much. As long as I get my money.
But, now I have to head to get our satin sheets from the post office. See you later. ^^
I thank those of you who voted and now... it's time to announce a giveaway to celebrate snowprincipessa's 2000th entry!
There is one set of unpublished needleroll and biscornu design by Lady Periphaeria up for grabs. I will keep you in suspense, being the evil person I am, but if you love summer, sun, dragonflies and bees you will love them!
Here is a colour swatch for you....
The spiel is simple: there is one (1) lucky winner (unless I decide to be nice *evil grin*) and all the comments with email address (as I will email the designs) posted to this entry in this particular blog (not to the feeded entry in Facebook)before my 2000th entry apply.
Posters of published comments agree to respect my copyrights of the objects given in this giveaway and will not copy or share the designs involved by any means (except by stitching, of course! 
So, what are you waiting for? Comment with your email address and you may be the lucky winner! Feel free to also tell about this to your friends!
And now I am off to eat and then trying to finish my mother's holiday gift (which will be a complimentary design, btw.)
30 years old (I almost wrote 30 years odd...)
Oh mi gosh, etc.. I don't feel like thirty at all, but I have already noticed all the things coming from getting older: I got an invitation for the official PAP smear today... 
But that is what my employer wants me to do so there I go.
And in addition to that there is another health check coming within next two months. Groovy. And I know that this time there is this "and how about your weight then?" conversation... though, I can tell them that I have lost whopping 12,5 kilos since March without any dieting and that we shouldn't meddle with what seems to going well.
Though... they could check my thyroid levels, just for future reference as it seems that our mother has hypothyroidism despite her levels being within so called normal levels. I just can't help, but wondering did I really have point with my suspicion of having hypothyroidism when I was prescribed antidepressants...
Well, what is my weight loss secret? I am not quite sure, but I guess that the combination of Mr. Wonderful and Nigerian food is the thing - that yummy okra soup he makes every now and then may be big contributor in this. (This is interesting.)
One thing I am sure of: I am not complaining.
Her Highness
Thank you for your condolences.
She was put to sleep after, this is what the vet thought, her kidneys had failed. Poor dear couldn't control her bowel or bladder any more so it was just gentle to let her go.
My mother took her with her and buried Her Highness somewhere in her cabin's garden.
In general: odd changes
I have noticed extremely odd change in me lately: I like to shop and I am actually looking forward to buy *GASP* more *GASP* feminine clothes (what, aren't jeans and T-shirt feminine enough?! I am getting scary!) in future - and I have started to wear *GASP* earrings.
What boggles me almost as much is that I have this odd mania for turquoise stones (or glass pieces, whatever) - in general I have a thing for turquoise which I can't explain...
I have even grown my hair longer because He asked to (and it's not dark anymore, more like dark, bright red).
Should I be worried or should I just come to conclusion that I am in love? 
And to the main thing, birthday goodies!
These lovelies are from Stitch & Stash's Birthday Thread Exchange and even though only one skein of special floss is required some participants seem to enjoy pampering other participants... not that I would mind.
These are the ones which have come to date and there's threads from the Ozark Sampler, The Dye is Cast, Kate's Kloths, Carrie's Creations, Needlepaints, Dragon Floss... and I'm swimming in purple floss! (Check this card, stylish or what?)
I also got a chart with Ozark Sampler threads which would be just the thing for a biscornu (actually I have already decided which Ozark's thread I'd use for it..).
Thank you Sheila, Jayne and Helen! And big thank you to everyone who has wished me a happy birthday!
To make it even better... I know there's more birthday related goodness to come!
Otherwise
I have got year older peacefully (with my current physical state (even sweeping the kitchen floor is too much...) that is the only way). I spent the morning by playing with colour combinations for the B1g S3kr1t D3s1gn, we got the futon assembled (it's already in use...) with my mother (it took four hours from two persons with years of furniture assembling experience and a fully equipped hardware store's selection of woodworking tools) and I fed her with turkey and rice noodles with coconut cream sauce (with bell pepper and ginger)) as a thank you - she's still alive and actually liked the stuff, so it wasn't too bad.
Siamese cats, strange breed
I noticed something yesterday: Her Highness is a tonal meower. Instead of using different meow in different situations (like most cats do) she uses same meow, but changes the tone.
It kind of makes sense, she's from Siam anyway... (Thai is a tonal language.)
Before I forget... finished Woodland Snowfall:
I had a reason to stitch it... it was a supposed to be a replacement ornament sent to one participant in ornament exchange at EMS, and I did sent it to Singapore... She just happened to receive both original and mine approximately at the same time (which was few days ago, hence the picture).
(Piece of unnecessary information... I Googled Woodland Snowfall and guess whose blog was fourth hit? *grin* "Look Mommy, I'm in the internet.")
Shoppity
Birthday fairy made an order from Casa Cenina... (though I excused some things for myself too, and got one of the beads for Seasonal Dragons (they were discounted)!)
I've to say that they've excellent customer service. I wanted to pay my order with European Bank Transfer instead of credit card as in my case it was faster (it takes at least three days to get credits loaded) and there aren't any transaction fees when it's interunion transfer. They replied to all my stupid questions within hours and were very willing to serve.
Now order is processed, as they've received my payment, and mailed out. Wonderful! I'll recommend them (even they're not the cheapest one with everything they have great selection, and I'm willing to pay for service).
I should be sleeping, but I'm not. My mind wandered away and here I am, in the middle of the night.
My father (well, "father") has his 59th birthday today, which means that in next year he'll have his 60th birthday and not that long after it (couple of years) he'll retire.
And I feel so desperately old. My father is almost sixty, I'm almost thirty... both of my siblings are thirty something. And what have I achieved in this world? Nothing.
My brother has kids who'll be in their teens when our father retires... and even youngest of my brother's children will be in school when our father retires. And I'll be 30-something. I'll be 34 in that year my mother retires. 8 years from now.
Hardest thought seems to be this: "My eldest could be (pre-)teen in 2013. My eldest could be in school after few years from now." So, it's not the aging I'm worrying of. I'm worrying of not knowing what future brings.
For G-d's sake, I don't even know what'll happen tomorrow... or next week. There's no past nor future. (I think I'm having early 30-something crisis...) I don't or can't know will I ever be even able to carry a child.
And even if I got pregnant now and here (don't ask me how) my eldest would be sevenish when I'm 34. Ok, 34 is not exactly decrepit, my mother had her 30th birthday after she gave birth to me, but... Well, this is one of my usual anxiety attacks. There just have been so much talk about kids and infertility lately that my mind just can't take it.
It's possible that my mind could take it, but I don't want to even think about those issues. It'd be just too hard - but still I can't avoid those topics. They jump to my face all the time. And living in area where most residents have families doesn't help. I can't even look at kids currently.
Everything is fine as long as I'm able to avoid families, children, women who get pregnant when they want to...
They say that you never get more than you can carry with you... sometimes I doubt that. Sometimes I wonder what kind of deed I've done in my past life to get this. (Ok, there are worse fates than this) And if this would only affect to my life, but this affects to life of others. And I can't understand how Sonnenschein thinks that I'm so good when I can be complete asshole even in best of days.
Yes, I'm bit messed up so it's very possible that there's no sense in this... It was just so much easier few years back when I was younger and apparently more stupid.
In the end I'm worried of only one thing and that is will I ever be able to deliver little human to this world. (Yeah, there's always adoption...) Image of us. As, to be honest, I'm not sure is there any thought more 'divine' than being able to feel part of Sol in me, even it's only nine months. I wish I had words for it, but I'm only human...
Yes, I'm delirious. In some parts of world they call it 'love'.
