A family that works together...

Last time at the house today. Dan and the kids had the outside (lawn mowing, edging, and the big one-weeding.) I had the inside (bathrooms, cleaning out the laundry room, vacuuming, blah blah blah.) I looked out and saw them doing this-

"We were just taking a break!"

For the umbrellas

After last year's wet fall and this year's wet spring I knew we needed to do something different with the umbrellas. Leaving dripping umbrellas on the floor by the door was not cutting it.

My first place to look was Amazon.uk. Price shock there. Umbrella stands are expensive! I found a moderately priced one and started the checkout process. Sorry. Umbrella stands can't be shipped to Finland. Bah. Thanks for nothing.

The next day Dan and I went on our hot date to Bauhaus. (Think Home Depot.) It was here that I found our umbrella 'stand'.

It's actually a large plastic planter. Even better, it was on sale! If you can't tell, I'm extremely pleased with myself for coming up with this solution.

Ketchup, there are no limits

Lauren brought this to our attention.
The back of the bottle reads:
Welcome to our newest (and largest) bottle of your favorite Heinz Tomato Ketchup! With 1.5 kg, there's more than ever enough Heinz for everyone to enjoy...we'd even say, "Unlimited!"

That's...interesting. We're thinking the plastic bottle would limit the unlimited-ness of the ketchup.
Unless, of course, it's a magic bottle.
Time will tell.

Why I am extra careful on escalators.

Life in the city has put me in contact with more escalators then before. I use them when I go on the metro. I use them when I go to the grocery store. Pretty much every day I'm using an escalator.

Which has reminded me of the incident long ago that has made me the careful escalator rider I am today.

I was somewhere between the ages of 8 and 11 and living in Chicago. We were at O'Hare to take an aunt to catch a flight. This was back when it was fun to go to the airport. Back when you could walk the person to the gate, give teary hugs and kisses and watch them board. It was also back when I didn't have to be the driver in airport traffic. Ah, the good ol' days.

We are near the gate and it's decided we need ice cream. I go with my aunt and another adult to get the cones. (I can't seem to remember who the other adult was. It's all very hazy.) It was upstairs and we use the first escalator without incident.

It was the going back ride that all heck broke loose.

I am holding two cones. Upon entering the downward moving escalator, I trip, fall, lurch...I don't know. Something happens and I end up on my back, arms outstretched upwards with a cone in each hand, looking up at my aunt and the other adult at the top of the escalator. Because of the cones, I am unable to use my hands to get myself up. I begin to panic. The cones are dripping all over my arms and occasionally on my face. Besides being covered in melting ice cream, I am VERY worried that my long pony tails will get sucked in at the bottom of the escalator, thus causing me much pain. It is not an ideal situation.

And here's the worst part: No one helped me up. Believe me, I asked. For whatever reason, my aunt and that other adult watched me, smiling. There may have been laughter. But not one move to help me. Were their hands filled with cones and therefore they didn't have a free hand to help me? Did they think I preferred to ride the escalator that way?

In the end I did not have my pony tails sucked in at the end of the escalator. Thank goodness. The cones were basically intact. I lived. I'm sure my aunt shared why she didn't help me and it was a truly fabulous explanation, but I don't remember it.

Nowadays, there are a few things you can count on me to do while riding an escalator. 1) I will always hold on to the rail when entering or exiting. I'll probably hang on for the majority of the ride as well. 2) Upon exiting, I will wait for all the steps to go 'flat'. This reduces my chances of tripping and 3) If you are with me and happen to fall, I will ALWAYS help you up. If my hands are full, I will drop whatever it is. Even if it's ice cream cones...

Derek's 3DS

Derek was ecstatic about getting his 3DS. He absolutly loves it. He worked so hard to get all the money, and waited paitiently for it to come from G & G. (If you haven't figured out already, Derek is actually writing this. :D) It's awesome. If any of you adults/kids own one, I'll be happy to add you as my friend.

 This is me, Derek. There's a feature that let's you create Miis from a picture of yourself. I'm awesome. :D

This is (gasp) Lauren. I don't know why I let her on my 3DS.

This is Mom. I didn't pick out the nose.

Last but (maybe) not least, Dad. Not very accurate. This can be a compliment, or an insult. Take your pick.

"Family" picture on my desk with picture feature.

Just like my normal self, My Mii loves McDonald's.

Find out more at http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/hardware!

Remember the friend thing. I'm really looking forward to it.

If you have a 3DS, we would love to have you come to the Detter House.

This concludes this (incredibly awesome) blog post.

LOL,

Derek

Some randoms...

The vine that tries to come in our kitchen window.
No screens makes this much easier.

Lauren showing off my
'old lady' shopping bag.

I don't care if we've only seen old ladies using these.
Lugging all the groceries back home stinks.

We live here.

Our name went up on the directory and door this weekend.

We live here!

Conduit for heart-stopping mail delivery.

Notice the lack of door knob.
Turn the key and the door springs open.





Neitsytpolku Ward

Today was our second time at the new ward. Officially, it's called Helsinki 3rd Ward. Unofficially, it's known as the Neitsytpolku Ward. (Neitsytpolku is the name of the street the building is on.)

It's a 'city' ward so the congregation is different from any other we've been in. Lots of young single adults who are in Helsinki for college. Young families. Older couples whose children are grown.
The first Sunday Derek said, "This is not like our old ward."

Lauren is one of three Young Women. The other two are 17. Derek is the oldest Primary kid by five years. The bishopric decided to start a pre-Young Men program for him as he'll be 12 in March. Even though there were no YM in the ward they still had a full YM presidency called already.

The bishopric created an English-speaking Sunday School class specifically for L and D. This is a treat because for the last year they were taught in Finnish and someone translated for them.

They also have an established English-speaking adult Sunday School class. The teacher pointed out that it is quite the international class with people from Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Ukraine, the US, and Finland.

It's going to be a good place for us. The only thing we don't like is parking. There is no parking lot reserved for the building. Actually, there are no parking lots around there at all. It's all on-street parking. We drove around and around looking for a spot and ended up finding a spot about 3 blocks from the church. Not a problem today with it being beautiful. I'm a little concerned about how it will be when winter hits. We may look into taking the tram or bus in the future.

It's all put together

As you may or may not know, most places in Finland do not have closets in the bedrooms. You have to buy wardrobes or other clothing storage units. Our house was an exception and had a fully decked out walk-in closet in the master bedroom. Unfortunately, not the same at our new apartment. Dan has been busy this week.

I wonder if there were any extras.

Helping...

Also helping.
After this pic Dan said,
"That's just not right."

Two finished wardrobes for the master bedroom!

In the guest room.

Not a wardrobe, but still put together by Dan.
Look at all that counter space!

It looks like it belongs in the kitchen.

Thanks, Dan!

What can I have you do next week?

Bookshelves?

:)

Sorting garbage is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do...

We were bad when we lived in the house. We never recycled/sorted our garbage. Everything went into one bag. I know. Shame on us.

Now we're in an apartment. Instead of having one or two giant dumpsters like the complexes we lived in when we first got married, there are several smaller containers to put your sorted trash. And by several, I mean LOTS. Here are how things need to be sorted.

1-Biowaste and Garden Waste

Organic, decomposing, solid materials are biowaste.

2-Energy Fraction and Plastic

An energy fraction means separately collected waste which cannot be recycled as material, but may be recovered for reuse towards energy production. Plastic waste, for example, is that kind of waste which is generated in households.

3-Carton and Cardboard

Carton and cardboard recycling includes all the different types of paper, carton and cardboard packages collected from households, institutional households and offices.

4-Glass

There are separated collection containers for coloured and clear glass.

5-Metal

Separately collected metallic packages belong to the category of small metal items,  whereas larger metal objects belong to the scrap metal category.

6-Paper

All paper which arrives at your home with the mail, as well as papers which are used for writing and printing are recyclable.

7-Unsorted Waste

Unsorted (mixed) waste is waste material that cannot be reused or collected for reclamation purposes.
Unsorted waste includes, among others:

8-Electric and Electronic Devices

Electric and electronic junk (WEE) includes such cast-off devices, which require an electric current or electromagnet field to function.
 
 These are just the ones we use most often. I didn't even include hazardous or construction waste.

At first I was like, 'AHHHHH! I don't have time to learn all these!' The first few days things got left on the counter for fear of putting them in the wrong container under the sink. Super. Garbage all over the counters. 

It's getting better and now that I've got a handle on it I'm trying to teach the rest of the family.

I have yet to figure out a good way to get all the sorted items down to the sorting containers. It's Lauren and Derek's job to lug it all down there. They detest the sorting container room as it smells. I told 'em it's only going to be smelly for a couple of more weeks and then it'll be winter again. :)

Garbage, who knew you could be so stressful?

First day of school

Here we go!

Our grade 7 student.

Our grade 6 student.

Cute Chucks!

Sporting the Man U shirt.

Their signature pose.

Not his first day of school.

Jackets on and ready for the 3 minute walk to school.
61º and raining.

Happy 1st day of school!

Happy Birthday, Girl!

Birthday pancakes and berries.
She really likes berries.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!

It's...a...new...PHONE!!!!

After spending time on the phone and getting to know Facebook,
we did a little clothes shopping.

For dinner, she chose Minos.

Party for friends coming later in the month.

Fazer cake with whip cream filling and BERRIES!

Happy birthday, girl.
We love you and are so happy you are part of our family!

Moving day

A glimpse of the big day.

Truck's here!

The majority of our things were packed in these.
Since I've never used a moving company for a 'close' move,
I was surprised to see them.

Logo on the few boxes that were used.
At first glance, Dan and I thought the cat had a rat/mouse
in its mouth.

Goodbye, family room.

Goodbye, kitchen.

The sauna was the room we put
 all the stuff we didn't want them to pack.
The kids decided it was a good place to take a break as well.

Break time is over.

Vacuuming his room one last time.

The loading was going swimmingly
until they got to our gigantic American beds.

BTW, the crew was fantastic!
Efficient and meticulous.

At the new place.
All worn out by 4:00.

S'mores at Nuuksio

Dan and the kids went out to Nuuksio to make s'mores. They had a good time.

A Russian couple let them start the fire off of theirs.

Skewered, but not roasted, wild blueberries.

Feeding the ducks graham crackers.