Orchid

Chris got me an orchid almost a year ago on my birthday. The flowers died pretty fast since I didn't really know how to take care of it. The leaves stayed green and I kind of just let it sit on the front window all year, watered it maybe 5 times total.

Last week I started looking at it and it had this new growth, little brown nut looking things at the top of it. Two days ago I came home from work and was so surprised when one of them had opened and it was a perfect beautiful flower. Today there was already two open, but the photos are from yesterday. What an interesting plant!

                       

Tuesday off.

I started my new schedule on Sunday. Yes, I am still working Sundays, but otherwise it is a lot nicer schedule. Sundays I work 9:00am to 7:30pm, Mondays, Wednesday and Thursdays 8-6:30. So I am getting Tuesday, Friday and Saturday off. Today is my first Tuesday off and it feels nice to have a break in the middle of the week.

 It was amazing to get off work yesterday when it was still day light, and it's been really good to wake up early as well. I left to work yesterday and the sun was just about to rise from behind the lake I was driving by. There was this orange glow and the whole air around looked all purple. There was people walking around the lake like there always is. It was so pretty.

This morning, even though it was my day off, I got up before 7 so I don't get off the sleep rhythm. It's been a beautiful  morning, I sat outside for the longest time as the sun was getting up, sipping my coffee and enjoying the company of my cats Sammy and Pulla. The air was nice and cool, just like a summer morning in Finland. It's gonna be a pretty hot day though, so sitting in the direct sun during the day is not in my plans. 

So far the weather's still been pretty pleasant. It's getting really hot, but the humidity hasn't been too bad. I know it will get humid sometime in April and it will be unbearable to be outside during the daytime. We've already gotten a few thunderstorms, and soon they will be here every day. I don't like the storms, they scare me, especially since I'm always thinking there's gonna be tornadoes. There was one right next to my work building exactly a year ago. I know it because I started working there a week after that and that's what everybody was talking about. Nobody got injured but it flipped over some small planes in the airport next to it. Tornadoes are actually rare in Florida, so I shouldn't bee too worried. It would be much worse if we lived in Tennessee or Kansas or somewhere else in the middle. They get them all the time.

A funny thing by the way, since I moved here, I get a dream every now and then that I'm surrounded by tornadoes. They are usually in the distance and there's always several of them, and I'm trying to decide where to go to shelter myself. It's not a nice dream, it's a scary one, but the funny thing is that I never had dreams like that in Finland, because I never even thought about tornadoes over there. Now I have that dream all the time, and often in the dream I'm actually in Finland. I asked Chris and he has the same kind of a dream every now and then too. So it must be one of the things being an American, having a tornado dream.

Talking about being an American, I am getting some fingerprints and photos done next week for my citizenship. I don't know when the actual interview is yet, the letter I got was for next week's appointment. I'm not worried about it, just want to get it out of the way, that's all. I guess later on this year I'll be able to vote for the next president. That is if I want to. I really don't care much for politics, especially the black and white ways people look at things here.

Anyway, here is some more pictures of the current state of the backyard. I haven't added anything new in a while and the leaf blowers / maintenance people have really put an effort in covering all my plants in leaves, so it is what it is.

My sunflower.. hope it grows big.

Most of the tomatoes have been eaten, and seems that the plants won't be making that many more. 

The tree above and under is a crape myrtle. The one under was cut because our neighbor told us they need to be cut down for new blooms. We left the other one almost untouched and we'll be comparing in a few months to see which one is blooming more. 

We haven't had any peppers yet, but looks like they will be ready soon. 

I haven't decided what to do the rest of the day. I have cleaning to do but I'm trying to avoid it. I guess I should eat at some point too.. And maybe I'll work on my painting I started a few weeks ago. 

Here is a video of Pulla I took this morning. I still think she is about to have kittens soon. It's a little hard to tell because her hair is so long, but when I feel her belly, it's huge. That's it for now. Enjoy the video. 

Some home sickness

It's past my bed tire so I won't be long.

I've been missing Finland today. I was on my old computer backing up old photos and all the pictures brought me good memories and made me miss being home. Oh well, hopefully we will get there soon.

Fall 2007 in Finland. 

I miss rye bread and lots of other foods. One of the first things I want to do when I get there next time is eat a roast beef sandwich at Cafe Picnic and get some kebab. Then I want to get some good Finnish coffee.. any place, because the coffee over there is always good, it's never bitter or too weak like the American coffee. And the best part is that I'll be able to go to a cafe and have people around me mind their own business and not find entertainment in watching me trying to find a table. 

That is some good things to wait for! 

Savannah.

Found the camera earlier, so here is a little visitor we had over earlier tonight. I had to get a picture of her with those glasses on haha. Oh well, off to bed I go. It's been a long day. 

Life is getting better.

This blog is going to be all writing, no pictures, since I don't know where the camera is, so if it's too long, don't read. :P So here we go:

There is some pretty good things going on at the moment. Funny how it all happens at the same time.

Not all is perfect though, so lets get that out of the way first. Our cats have caused us a lot of worry lately and the situation may be getting worse.The thing is, the newest addition, Pulla, who were are not sure if it's a girl or a boy, is getting rounder and rounder all of sudden. We are not sure if it's just fat (the cat may try to own up to it's name), or something else... We will find out soon enough. Anybody want kittens? ;)

The other cause of worry is Sammy, who has decided that he wants to be an outside cat too. We tried letting him out one day and he immediately took off and left our yard and disappeared for hours. We looked for him all day, and finally found him way after it got dark. He followed us home looking very confused but happy to see us. Since he had never been outside (the time we've had him), he couldn't tell which one was our house.

We decided it was better to keep him in but about a week later we woke up to find he was gone. The wind, or him, had knocked out one of the loose window screens in our laundry room and Sammy somehow crammed through it and got out. He was gone for two full days until Chris found him close to the house and forced him in (and fixed the window). Well, Sammy wasn't happy inside, and this weekend I decided to just let him out again if that makes him happy. He seems to have learned his lesson, and is actually staying in our yard now, and when I'm out there he keeps on running to me and hangs out with me when I'm gardening. He even comes back inside every now and then to eat and sleep. So things are getting better with him, it's just that now that he is really happy being an outside cat, I don't think we can take him with us to Finland when it will be time to go, and I don't quite know what to do with him.

Neko is the only one of our cats, that doesn't cause us that much worry at the moment. She is definitely an inside cat and happy as one. The only aggravation she causes us is all the hairballs that she loves to puke out after eating a full bowl of food. :P The other two.. hopefully time will give us some solutions.

Anyway, off to the good things going on.

First of all, work is going good. I am constantly improving my numbers. We are being rated in several different categories every month, and I just found out my results for the month of January. I was rated a 4.6 out of 5, and my supervisor said that was the highest rating in our whole department, that means the highest of  more or less 200 people.  The goal they want us to meet is a 3, and most people seem to struggle with just that. The job is full of multitasking and the requirements are very strict, that's why I was even surprised I did so good. I don't mean to be smug, I am just proud of being successful. Three years ago I took my first job in this country working in McDonald's when no other place even gave me an interview because I didn't have any work experience in the US, and now I'm working in a place where you had to pass three to four interviews and all kinds of testing to even get hired.

The other good news is that  I might be getting a better schedule soon. I will probably find out next week, and I have my fingers crossed for a Monday through Friday day shift. I have enjoyed having a three day weekend from Thursday till Saturday, but the four days I work, I literally don't do anything else. I'm at my workplace a minimum of 10.5 hours each of those days, then when you add the 30 minutes getting there and 30 to get back home, and the three out of four days when I get stuck on the phone after my shift is over, I am easily using 12 hours of the day getting to and being at work.The people who know me,  also know that I need my sleep every night. So work and sleep it is. Plus, I've being doing the night shift, going in 11am and leaving after 9:30pm, and I am not a night person. If nothing else, I am hoping to get a shift where I get to go to work early in the morning so I can get out sooner as well.

Work is looking good for Chris too. He just got hired at Busch Gardens yesterday. For those of you who don't know, it's an amusement park in Tampa. He will be working in the admissions selling tickets etc. I am so happy and proud of him, he's been sending a ton of applications in the last few months, but most places have either told him that he's under qualified or, ironically, over qualified. He left the small office he worked at (because of personal reasons) thinking he would find something really fast but the reality really hit him fast when it wasn't as easy to get a job like it had been for him in the past. So we are both super excited for him, it will be something fun to do for the next few months before we leave.

The last great thing is, that my interview letter is on it's way to me in the mail right now. That is for the citizenship. I checked my status online yesterday and read that they sent out the invitation for the interview yesterday. As far as I understand, the interview is usually a month from the letter, and then they may either do my oath the same day, or up to another month from then. So my application seems to be moving faster than average and I might become a citizen already next month or the one after that! Whoo!! We won't be ready to move that soon but it will be so nice to get that whole thing taken care of so we can concentrate in everything else going on.

That's it for now. Some pretty good stuff like said! Our friends Jess and Leo and their 3-year-old daughter Savannah will be coming over with Chris's little sister Mackenzie later today, so should be a fun day!