Thanks, ladies!

BB, since the day we arrived we have harvested berries from our garden. Because we have so much going on right now, we aren't too hard for ourselves. We're happy of every bottle and jar we're able to preserve. So far, one of our three freezers is already almost full of berries...

novusfemina, I have no idea what could be the problem. ??? I use the same old link and it works:
http://chagrinvalleysoapandcraft.com/index.html

Today I went for an early Nordic walk. The temperature was still pleasant, and besides exercise I got to see many gardens of this village. After the walk, I stretched -or rather, tried to stretch. I just don't bend right now! I hope that I'll get better now that most of the carrying is done. OTOH, I suppose that my body is just going through an adjustment period- even without the extra work caused by moving, our new country life seems to be much more physically active than city life. But that's just a good thing, and after the soreness will pass, I'm certain that this new lifestyle will be good for me.
   
Hair: I had to rinse my hair twice yesterday, and today I've rinsed it once so far. For some reason, it suddenly feels much better! It also feels longer- it seems that BS marked the border between medium length (aka. blah length) and longish.
   Yesterday evening I also wore LL hairsticks (Pretty Pastels)- first time after the move. We haven't found a good combing table yet, and until we do, my hairsticks reside in a cupboard. Today is a hot day, and scarf cap is once again the style of the day. I keep dreaming of a little cooler weather and little cleaner hair that I could wear down.

Hey Novus, any favorites in Ida's shampoo bars?

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Curlgirl, I haven't ordered one... yet.    But I plan on ordering the carrot, milk & honey bar (because my hair responds really well to milk and honey) and the Egg & Beer bar, because I've heard all good things about that.

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I do this when I am on my bike trip and water is of questionable quantity, volume and pressure.  I start the week with freshly washed hair, then just rinse with water the rest of the week - even after biking 70 miles in 100F heat.  I leave my hair down to dry and amazingly, it does not look dirty!  I wear my hair in a braid while biking and have a helmet on most of the day, so appearances are not all that important, but hubby has even mentioned that my hair does not look greasy even at the end of the week without washing.

I'll be watching to see how your experiences are with this method.

As you can see, having a moment to sit down and write something that is not my Doctor's thesis is a true luxury in these days.

But, here's again a quick look for you to how things are going with us.

Hair: Doing well with my new washing method. It did get a bit greasy before washing day, but after WO experiment, nothing that I couldn't handle. The water here is harder than in Järvenpää. Bad luck for me, I guess, since almost whole country has very soft water that is great for hair. It's not really bad here, the hardness is soft bordering medium hard water, but I can see the difference when I use my shampoo bars. They don't lather as well as they used to, and I feel it's more difficult to get my hair clean with them. Neverthless, I've decided to just deal with these little difficulties- I'm not ready to trade all natural, nourishing ingredients to sulphates. Once a week, I can be extra careful with shampooing.
    I guess that on style department there is a bit improvement- I hope it is a sign that though I don't feel like it, our life is settling down a bit. I don't wear a scarf cap almost every day any longer- I've "graduated" to instant bun clips, claw clips and I have even worn hairsticks on a couple of days.
    Speaking of hairsticks, though my budget is tight right now, I succumbed and ordered a pair of hairsticks (Arabesque in Green) from Maiden's Treasures. I just received them and -wow! Kathy has really improved the quality of her products (though she hasn't raised her prices). The sticks are now smooth and gently shaped- absolutely lovely. The beads are gorgeous and...well, I just love the pair!

Moving: Last weekend saw some great progress on that front. We visited a local antique/old furniture store, and found a couple of great pieces. We also managed to assemble a huge cupboard- the assembling instructions were incredibly bad so it took some time to figure them out, but in the end the result was good.
     My little sewing corner is also ready now. I didn't get the modernized version of treadle sewing machine that I had drooled at Lehman's. The ordering process for such a big item just seemed too difficult to handle along with everything else. But I did get a treadle machine and a modern machine that sits nicely on top of it. The old machine is broken, but I found its manual so maybe one day I'll see if I could fix it... in any case, once I figure out how to use the new machine, I will start to sew curtains. That shouldn't be too difficult even for a novice seamstress.

Garden: It's raining, and green is returning to the garden. First plums are ripe now, and first apple pie made of apples from our garden has been baked and declared delicious. I love American style apple pies, and the only way to get one in here is to bake it. It's a rare goodie (everywhere except in our kitchen, that is).
  We have also conducted the census in the garden now. We have 52 plum trees, 26 apple trees and various berries on top of it. That's a lot, but so far we have been up to the challenge.

Health: Aches are finally going away. T is still sore, so I'm glad that I started to exercise when I did. I've settled back to my weekly exercise schedule. I still miss dumbballs and a couple of more items. I've spotted a few, but they are always too light. Maybe home exercising is an old ladies' thing- at gym, I was among the strongest women, but many men were quite a lot stronger than I was, so one would imagine that it would be profitable to offer weights in "mens" sizes...hmm...oh well, sooner or later I'll find them.
I just hope my current exercise regimen is enough to keep me from losing muscle while I hunt for gymthings in correct sizes. Certain cupboard proved during the weekend that I dearly need every ounce of muscle I've got.

A busy weekend is behind. It's really hitting us, that we have not only moved -in the sense of just changing the place where we live- but we are also undergoing a major lifestyle change. For the better, it seems...

Moving: Hooray! The house looks finally neat! We have now unpacked almost everything (just two boxes left!) and cleaned and arranged the place. There are still a few pieces of furniture missing (most notably benches from the kitchen- it appears that no one sells those things!), but finally this place has the look of a real home. It's soon time to take pictures for you!
 
Learning to Sew: We bought curtain fabrics during the weekend, and ever since I've spent most of my spare time making curtains. I'm so glad I picked this as my first "real" sewing project- sewing curtains gives me in a short time experience on handling different fabrics. And it feels great to be already able to make something as much needed as curtains!
     How difficult?: Depends on the fabric! Cotton is easy, knit lace almost makes my hair turn grey. All in all, I'd say that this is a great beginner project- since I'm new to sewing, going through the stages of a simple project from washing the fabric to finishing the seams a few times is an important lesson. I'm having fun, and am already thinking of what to sew next...

Hair: The weather has turned rainy, but housework has kept me indoors most of the time. I still haven't found time and energy for a deep treatment- I just hope that my new washing schedule counts as an improvement in my haircare regimen. Some variety is definitely returning to my hairstyles/toys. On Saturday I wore a french braid/braided bun. Sunday was a hairstick day (Asian Moon MT pair), and today I'm wearing a log roll with a claw clip. Considering my activities, it's still best to keep the hair up and out of the way, but variation is great!

Health: I managed to exercise "only" 3 times last week- I just couldn't make time for an exercise during the weekend. But I'm sure that all that cleaning and garden work counts as something!
   Today, I did my first muscle fitness exercise of the week. I'm comfortable with my program now, and am already planning my next program. When the bad weather comes, I now plan to increase my muscle fitness exercises to 3/week and do with just one aerobic exercise. There's got to be one beautiful day in a week even in November. If not, I'll just do my "Walk to Lórien exercise" with crosstrainer: play Fellowship of Ring soundtrack and run whenever the music indicates that Black Riders or orcs are nearby. I refuse to do boring aerobic exercises.

Woohoo! I've finally got some pictures for you! 


Fruits from our garden:



Apples



Kriikuna (pronounces something like kreekunah), a subspecies of plum that is peculiar for this region. Small, late and tasty!



Ripening plums. Divine plums.



Apple trees, European gooseberry, raspberries and a kriikuna tree



A shady corner: apple trees, blackcurrant, white currant, wild raspberry



Inside the house: my "meditation place" in living room. For relaxation and when I need a quiet moment. Ancient symbolism (that no one seems to notice!): Incense is for Air, little bowl for Water, stones for Earth and plants for Life. Fire is represented by a tuohus prayer candle (both candles and holder bought from last Christmas' trip to Monastery of Valamo). When requested, I light one of these special candles.



Our wood cook/baking stove. Unique piece, and totally functional! It even has a small water reservoir (see the little tap?). I haven't used it yet- a woodstove produces lots of heat and the weather's been too warm. But when it cools, I'm going to learn the secrets of cooking and baking on this stove.

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Hair today: Greasy, really greasy. I put a scarf cap on and am just trying to ignore it. Tomorrow is sauna day, and I'm not going to give up before that!

Health: I've developed a problem with my wrist nerve- must be all this writing. It's not the first time, but wearing wrist support (that I'll have to wear a full week!) is already annoying. I've also got flu symptoms that T's had for a couple of days now, so I postponed today's exercise until tomorrow. That annoys me too. Not to mention that my brain feels clogged though I really, really should review my writings and think. Argh. But I just can't bring myself to think philosophically when my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton balls.
Boy, am I complaining today or what?
   I think I'm going to find something to do that will improve my mood after I finish this. That's best for everyone.

How wonderful to have so many different fruit trees!  I miss the apple orchard that we had at a previous house.

The wood cook stove is fantastic!  My grandmother used one for all her baking.  I used to love to sit in the kitchen and basque in the heat of the stove in the winter.  It was a real treat when Grandma would let me feed wood into the stove.  Good luck learning to cook/bake with it - it is a real art.