Top ten reasons to ride the bus/ not ride the bus in Finland

TOP TEN REASONS TO RIDE THE BUS IN FINLAND

1.SAVE ON GAS MONEY
2.MOMS RIDE FOR FREE WITH STROLLER
3.DON'T HAVE TO WARM UP YOUR CAR OR SCRAPE WINDSHIELD
4.NO CAR PAYMENTS OR INSURANCE PAYMENTS TO WORRY ABOUT
5.ALL YOUR FRIENDS CAN FIT.
6.OCCASIONALLY GET THE BUS DRIVER THAT LOVES THE 80'S
7.GET TO MEET ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE
8.KIDS LIKE TO RIDE THE BUS AND PUSH THE STOP BUTTON
9.THE BUS TAKES YOU ANYWHERE YOU WANT TO GO EVEN IF IT IS A FEW TRANSFERS AND A LITTLE WALKING.
10.YOU CAN TEXT, READ, SLEEP, RELAX WHILE RIDING.


TOP TEN REASONS TO RECONSIDER RIDING THE BUS IN FINLAND.

1.SOME BUSES MAY SMELL LIKE URINE.
2.YOU MAY GET RANDOMLY FLASHED
3.LONG WAITS IN BETWEEN TRANSFERS.
4.KIDS PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS WHILE THE BUS IS GOING
5.CAN'T DO BIG GROCERY SHOPS OR YOU ARE HAULING IT ALL HOME.
6.MOST BUS DRIVERS DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH(WHICH IS FINE IF YOU SPEAK FINNISH)
7.LEAD FOOT BUS DRIVERS(ALWAYS PUSHING YOUR IMAGINARY BRAKE)
8.FORGET BUS PASS
9.FIGHT FOR STROLLER SPACE(THROW DOWN)
10.KIDS LIKE TO RIDE THE BUS AND PUSH THE STOP BUTTON(EVEN WHEN ITS NOT TIME TO STOP, OH HOW THE BUS DRIVERS LOVE THAT ONE)

904 square foot home!!

As I began my post I decided to figure out what 84 square meters is in square feet and I realized that my family and I are living in a 904 square foot home!! At first I was a little apprehensive to sharing walls again with neighbors and the size of the "flat" made me a little nervous, but I really enjoy it. Many things I don't have to worry about. Heating costs, yard work, only have one bathroom to clean, when I clean the house it does not take very long, but it does get dirty fast.

Space is limited, but I have found that this is the reason they have created Ikea (pronounced ick-E-a in Finland). Today we bought a pan rack so that I could have a place to store all my pans. I can only keep one room clean at a time it seems here so I will take pictures one room at a time. I love my kitchen it is my little sanctuary. (those who know me would not believe it), but I have learned to love cooking for the moment and am happy that my food turns out as well. I am not saying it does all the time, but it has been more often than not. I want to post more pictures of my house when I get the other rooms a little more organized and get some pics of the place I live. We picked this place because we ride the bus everywhere. We decided to do this to save money as well as it gives us a nudge to explore more and get to know Finland better. Below us is a department store, grocery store, pharmacy, playground, etc...., so we feel a little spoiled. The snow came again today and I am hoping that it will stay. Finland is pretty, but it is so much prettier when there is snow covering the trees and the ground during the winter.

Christmas in Finland

I have no idea how to be a better blogger. That is one of my new years goals. So for now it will have to look very disorganized. I wanted to talk about Christmas in Finland. I am not sure we experienced the full Finnish way of doing things, but we did find some fun things that the Finnish do during Christmas. For instance Santa since he lives in Finland comes door to door to visit the children and brings them their presents Christmas eve. The next thing we were able to do was partake in all the amazing pastries. I made rolls a few weeks before Christmas and they actually turned out. (Bread never really works for me). I then thought to try making their cinnamon rolls they do here and they turned out!! So I went to the bread the make called "pulla". Wow I have been impressed with my ability to make these things. I really think it has a lot to do with the altitude here, maybe no humidity(like Georgia), and maybe they have some magic dust they put in their flour here. I do not want this streak to end so until it does I am going to continue making breads and pastries until my luck runs up.

Steve came home one day with a Christmas tree and surprised us!! It was beautiful and I wish I would have gotten a better picture of it before it died. I hope to one day grow a green thumb, but this year we were only able to keep our poor tree alive for about a week.

I felt sort guilty that the Christmas tree was cut down just for us to only survive a week, so I thought what could we do with it to show how much we appreciated. I looked up online and was able to find a potpourri for pine needles. We boiled them and let them simmer and the whole house smells like a Christmas tree. Very lovely.

I know my pics are random but hopefully you see why I posted most of them for the Christmas blog. Santa is cute here he likes to dress a little old fashioned and his reindeer go wherever he goes. We went out for a night down town during the holidays to see the lights in Helsinki and came upon the Lutheran Church around it was little shops where we got hot chocolate and Steve bought a reindeer brats. Looking forward to another Christmas here and hopefully we will see some snow next time.

I should probably mention what Steve and Josie are doing with the telescope. Josie was asking for a telescope all year and Santa had a very hard time tracking one down in Finland apparently they don't have many here, but he found one and when there is not a cloudy night you can see Josie looking through her telescope. I love it when they use the things they are given. Ez loved his train he got and knows exactly the right noises to make while it goes along the track. Every year seems like I am blessed more and more and am grateful to be sharing this experience with my family.