I just boiled a whole pot of water in like 20 seconds! I tried it with cold water and it was like 30 seconds. Must be the 250 voltage running through this baby.
I am doing the "Tim the Tool Man Taylor" grunt as we speak.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Progress
Hello!
I logged onto Facebook this morning and stumbled upon some complaints from Londoners about how they are getting snowed on this weekend. Self discovery: I am an evil person for thinking that is great. Kinda makes up for the snowman I had to make on Easter weekend while everybody was in shorts on the deck in the County.
We went to Gigantti last night and bought some new speakers for the computer. And I installed our Webcam today, so once Maddy is up from her nap, we are going to attempt a phone call to Oma and Opa and see if we can get this to work. For all you family members out there, please log onto www.skype.com and click on "Download" on the top left of the screen - it's super easy. For those of you who can't figure it out, I also put some money on a Skype credit so we could call you on your phones instead of your computers.
Andrew pointed out an interesting fact last night: most of the people in his lab wear the exact same clothes for multiple days in a row. I could see possibly sneaking in the same dress pants two days in a row, but he's saying the same pants and shirts for 2 or 3 days in a row! One lady even wore the same dress three days in a row. I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this but hope to post an answer for you once I make some friends :)
I've been keeping an eye on the Iceland volcano and hoping for a miracle - Mom and Pop are supposed to fly here on Thursday and I'm really really really hoping they make it.
Until next time, America. (what show is that from?? hmm...)
Kim
I logged onto Facebook this morning and stumbled upon some complaints from Londoners about how they are getting snowed on this weekend. Self discovery: I am an evil person for thinking that is great. Kinda makes up for the snowman I had to make on Easter weekend while everybody was in shorts on the deck in the County.
We went to Gigantti last night and bought some new speakers for the computer. And I installed our Webcam today, so once Maddy is up from her nap, we are going to attempt a phone call to Oma and Opa and see if we can get this to work. For all you family members out there, please log onto www.skype.com and click on "Download" on the top left of the screen - it's super easy. For those of you who can't figure it out, I also put some money on a Skype credit so we could call you on your phones instead of your computers.
Andrew pointed out an interesting fact last night: most of the people in his lab wear the exact same clothes for multiple days in a row. I could see possibly sneaking in the same dress pants two days in a row, but he's saying the same pants and shirts for 2 or 3 days in a row! One lady even wore the same dress three days in a row. I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this but hope to post an answer for you once I make some friends :)
I've been keeping an eye on the Iceland volcano and hoping for a miracle - Mom and Pop are supposed to fly here on Thursday and I'm really really really hoping they make it.
Until next time, America. (what show is that from?? hmm...)
Kim
Thursday, April 15, 2010
More Shopping Adventures
Hi all.
Maddy and I went back to the mall today to buy a few groceries. It's not that I really needed them, but it's a nice excuse for an excursion to get out of the house. I had 43 euros in my pocket and a shopping wish list of items.
The nice thing about Finland (and possibly Europe in general, although I'd have to verify) is that the price you see on the items includes tax. No guessing about what your bill will be at the end. That is nice when you have a set budget and you're not amazing at math. I pride myself on the fact that my bill came to 42,50 euros and I have 0,50 euros left for Maddy to get a mini ice cream cone from the store. (still dealing with 100% cash until my bank card comes in the mail...).
New jaw-dropping finds today:
- finally found pancake mix - it wasn't even the nice mix, and it cost 8,70 euros. That's about $15!!!
- also found the cheap pancake syrup - again, not Aunt Jemima or Old Tyme, it was some cheap looking syrup for 8,50 euros, again almost $15!
I haven't had any luck finding good-tasting chocolate chip cookies, so I decided that I was going to bake cookies for Andrew today. The only ingredient missing was chocolate chips. Well, guess what? Finland doesn't have chocolate chips. You have to buy a large chunk of chocolate and then flake off pieces of chocolate to put in your dough!!! Hmm, here's hoping he appreciates them. That is, if I decide I'm still going to make them.
Another Finnish fact - they use the 24 hour system. If you buy an alarm clock, a coffee maker, an oven, a watch, a cell phone, etc. in Finland, they go by army time - 16:00 hours, no 4:00pm. All hours on the outside of stores are all in army time. It makes sense, I guess, but sometimes I need to stop and really think about what time it is.
We've had a few nice sunny days outside, hitting around 10 or 11 degrees. Maddy enjoys being outside so we've done that quite a bit. Again, a nice excuse to get out of the house.
7 more days until my parents come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maddy and I went back to the mall today to buy a few groceries. It's not that I really needed them, but it's a nice excuse for an excursion to get out of the house. I had 43 euros in my pocket and a shopping wish list of items.
The nice thing about Finland (and possibly Europe in general, although I'd have to verify) is that the price you see on the items includes tax. No guessing about what your bill will be at the end. That is nice when you have a set budget and you're not amazing at math. I pride myself on the fact that my bill came to 42,50 euros and I have 0,50 euros left for Maddy to get a mini ice cream cone from the store. (still dealing with 100% cash until my bank card comes in the mail...).
New jaw-dropping finds today:
- finally found pancake mix - it wasn't even the nice mix, and it cost 8,70 euros. That's about $15!!!
- also found the cheap pancake syrup - again, not Aunt Jemima or Old Tyme, it was some cheap looking syrup for 8,50 euros, again almost $15!
I haven't had any luck finding good-tasting chocolate chip cookies, so I decided that I was going to bake cookies for Andrew today. The only ingredient missing was chocolate chips. Well, guess what? Finland doesn't have chocolate chips. You have to buy a large chunk of chocolate and then flake off pieces of chocolate to put in your dough!!! Hmm, here's hoping he appreciates them. That is, if I decide I'm still going to make them.
Another Finnish fact - they use the 24 hour system. If you buy an alarm clock, a coffee maker, an oven, a watch, a cell phone, etc. in Finland, they go by army time - 16:00 hours, no 4:00pm. All hours on the outside of stores are all in army time. It makes sense, I guess, but sometimes I need to stop and really think about what time it is.
We've had a few nice sunny days outside, hitting around 10 or 11 degrees. Maddy enjoys being outside so we've done that quite a bit. Again, a nice excuse to get out of the house.
7 more days until my parents come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Counting Down
Super excited that my parents will be here in 9 days!!! Gotta start planning stuff for us to do.
House is almost unpacked. Slowly room by room.
Got a bank account today, woo hoo. They mail you two letters after you open an account: one has your debit card, the other has your PIN. I can't even pick my own PIN! Hopefully I don't forget what it is.
Maddy is really starting to like the bus. I sat her in a seat today (instead of riding in the stroller) and she loved looking out the window. Good news if we ever want to try a train ride of some sort.
Nap time, woo hoo. The other day, it was warmer in Espoo than it was in London, Ontario. No offence to you Londoners but it brought a smile to my face.
L8R.
Kim
House is almost unpacked. Slowly room by room.
Got a bank account today, woo hoo. They mail you two letters after you open an account: one has your debit card, the other has your PIN. I can't even pick my own PIN! Hopefully I don't forget what it is.
Maddy is really starting to like the bus. I sat her in a seat today (instead of riding in the stroller) and she loved looking out the window. Good news if we ever want to try a train ride of some sort.
Nap time, woo hoo. The other day, it was warmer in Espoo than it was in London, Ontario. No offence to you Londoners but it brought a smile to my face.
L8R.
Kim
Monday, April 12, 2010
Lighting it up!
Since my house is covered in ash and sut, I decided that I would finish burning the rest of the boxes today so that I can finally clean my house really well.
Okay, so maybe it is kinda fun...
Okay, so maybe it is kinda fun...
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Blog Etiquette??
Hello all.
So apparently blog etiquette states that your posts should be short. Not a huge novel like mine. I will keep this in mind while I try to summarize all of my events.
We took a road trip around Helsinki today! We parked at Olympic Stadium and went up the tower. Maddy was mostly interested in watching the soccer game playing at the field, but it was neat to see the city. Looking forward to exploring it more once my parents get here.
Andrew got the computer going. Apparently out of everything we brought, the computer is the one thing that runs on 240 watts. Which means he has now started downloading a bunch of North American shows that we've been missing. Shh, don't tell the feds!! Last night we got caught up on Survivor.
Unpacking is going well. Floor plan is coming together, although I'm tempted to stick my dog and his bed in my walk-in closet. That would be my number one choice if it weren't for my fear of having dog hair, slobber, and stink on my nice clothes. We'll find room for him somewhere.
The weather was nice today, I think it hit 11 degrees. The snow is just about gone and Maddy has been enjoying bike rides down the street (thanks Oma and Opa!!).
That's it for now. Is that short enough???
K
So apparently blog etiquette states that your posts should be short. Not a huge novel like mine. I will keep this in mind while I try to summarize all of my events.
We took a road trip around Helsinki today! We parked at Olympic Stadium and went up the tower. Maddy was mostly interested in watching the soccer game playing at the field, but it was neat to see the city. Looking forward to exploring it more once my parents get here.
Andrew got the computer going. Apparently out of everything we brought, the computer is the one thing that runs on 240 watts. Which means he has now started downloading a bunch of North American shows that we've been missing. Shh, don't tell the feds!! Last night we got caught up on Survivor.
Unpacking is going well. Floor plan is coming together, although I'm tempted to stick my dog and his bed in my walk-in closet. That would be my number one choice if it weren't for my fear of having dog hair, slobber, and stink on my nice clothes. We'll find room for him somewhere.
The weather was nice today, I think it hit 11 degrees. The snow is just about gone and Maddy has been enjoying bike rides down the street (thanks Oma and Opa!!).
That's it for now. Is that short enough???
K
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Potties, Power Plugs, and Pyromaniacs
Hello all!!!
I am having a great day, I hope you are too. Yesterday I unpacked the entire kitchen, it was so nice to cook dinner using my own stuff!!! I missed my potato peeler, I have been craving potatoes so I'm going to make mashed potatoes tonight, yum! I did manage to find room for everything, although there are still a pile of boxes in the living room and I'm hoping that none of them are for the kitchen.
This morning marks the official beginning of Maddy's potty training (again). She had a go of it for a while in the winter but lost interest, so I think she wasn't really ready. Now that her potties have made it across the big pond, we are going to start at it again. We had a great start, she peed in her potty three times this morning!!!!!! Let's hope we keep this going.
It is so wonderful to have our things, but I'm glad that we're too busy to notice that we can't use our TV/entertainment unit/surround sound/Playstation 3. Andrew did a bunch of research and ordered a whole pile of transformers/converters/adaptors, whatever we need to use the appliances we brought from Canada in the European plugs here in Finland. Not only does Finland use a totally different plug than us, they also run on 240 Hz while Canada runs on 120 (I might have this wrong, I'm sure Andrew will correct me) so this means that we also need transformers so that when we do plug our stuff in, it doesn't fire up in smoke. So, he ordered everything online but it is free shipping to Canada and it would have cost around $500 in shipping charges alone to Finland, so we shipped it all to my parents house and they are going to bring it when they come (two weeks!). It's a good thing that we're too busy to actually want to sit down and watch tv, because we can't.
For the last week, Andrew has been following me around looking for things to burn. Now that we have an open fireplace, he's gotten a pyro itch, I believe. He'll start up a fire for like 5 pieces of paper just to start a fire. Anyways, now that we have our stuff here, he spent about 2 or 3 hours last night burning boxes and paper, so I'm pretty sure the itch is gone. And there's still plenty more where that came from!!!
I did figure out some information about recycling. They do have a recycling program here in Finland, but you actually have to take your bottles and glasses and stuff to the grocery stores. They have special machines (look kinda like vending machines) that you feed in your bottles and you get money back. I'm all for recycling, but I would do it for free, not because I get paid for it. But anyways, now I have to start saving all my recyclables and then bring them with me next time I go to the store. It likely adds up, each beer can is 0.15 euros and one big plastic bottle of pop is 0.40 euros. Hmm, I wonder how Canada's recycling programs would differ if they implemented this type of incentive....
I unpacked Maddy's room this morning, holy cow she's got tons of toys. I guess I never realized how much she had because we had it spread out amongst three floors of house. Here we are in a single storey house and we're trying to fit most of it into her bedroom. Hmm, yeah, that's so NOT happening!
Anyways, there's tons to do but I think I'm going to nap instead. Yup, that sounds better. Hope everybody is doing great. 12 more days until my parents get here!!!
Kim
I am having a great day, I hope you are too. Yesterday I unpacked the entire kitchen, it was so nice to cook dinner using my own stuff!!! I missed my potato peeler, I have been craving potatoes so I'm going to make mashed potatoes tonight, yum! I did manage to find room for everything, although there are still a pile of boxes in the living room and I'm hoping that none of them are for the kitchen.
This morning marks the official beginning of Maddy's potty training (again). She had a go of it for a while in the winter but lost interest, so I think she wasn't really ready. Now that her potties have made it across the big pond, we are going to start at it again. We had a great start, she peed in her potty three times this morning!!!!!! Let's hope we keep this going.
It is so wonderful to have our things, but I'm glad that we're too busy to notice that we can't use our TV/entertainment unit/surround sound/Playstation 3. Andrew did a bunch of research and ordered a whole pile of transformers/converters/adaptors, whatever we need to use the appliances we brought from Canada in the European plugs here in Finland. Not only does Finland use a totally different plug than us, they also run on 240 Hz while Canada runs on 120 (I might have this wrong, I'm sure Andrew will correct me) so this means that we also need transformers so that when we do plug our stuff in, it doesn't fire up in smoke. So, he ordered everything online but it is free shipping to Canada and it would have cost around $500 in shipping charges alone to Finland, so we shipped it all to my parents house and they are going to bring it when they come (two weeks!). It's a good thing that we're too busy to actually want to sit down and watch tv, because we can't.
For the last week, Andrew has been following me around looking for things to burn. Now that we have an open fireplace, he's gotten a pyro itch, I believe. He'll start up a fire for like 5 pieces of paper just to start a fire. Anyways, now that we have our stuff here, he spent about 2 or 3 hours last night burning boxes and paper, so I'm pretty sure the itch is gone. And there's still plenty more where that came from!!!
I did figure out some information about recycling. They do have a recycling program here in Finland, but you actually have to take your bottles and glasses and stuff to the grocery stores. They have special machines (look kinda like vending machines) that you feed in your bottles and you get money back. I'm all for recycling, but I would do it for free, not because I get paid for it. But anyways, now I have to start saving all my recyclables and then bring them with me next time I go to the store. It likely adds up, each beer can is 0.15 euros and one big plastic bottle of pop is 0.40 euros. Hmm, I wonder how Canada's recycling programs would differ if they implemented this type of incentive....
I unpacked Maddy's room this morning, holy cow she's got tons of toys. I guess I never realized how much she had because we had it spread out amongst three floors of house. Here we are in a single storey house and we're trying to fit most of it into her bedroom. Hmm, yeah, that's so NOT happening!
Anyways, there's tons to do but I think I'm going to nap instead. Yup, that sounds better. Hope everybody is doing great. 12 more days until my parents get here!!!
Kim
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