Kim the Artist and Her Amazing House.

Meet my friend Kim, and several other ladies from my art group.  Kim is second from the left.  Sometime while I was living in Finland, the site of our group get-togethers moved from Jann's house to Kim's.  Kim moved into a new home while I was gone, and it had a double garage size cabinet showroom, as the previous owner was a cabinet maker.  Kim made it into her crafting studio.

She also loves bees ... as show by this strand of bee lights on a mantel. I think it must be her spirit 'animal' since she's always as busy as one.

Kim loves a touch of whimsical in all her decorating, which is why she is so much fun to be around.  Don't you love this rag doll riding a rabbit?

Mushrooms, and the like, also find their way into fun niches.

Her guest rooms are so inviting.

 Isn't the scalloped book case, just the sweetest?  I love it.

 A whimsical treasury ...

 Who wouldn't love a screened memo board with lots of artsy treasures, some of them made by Kim herself, but many are made by other artists.  Kim is a great supporter of women artists.

 As one walks about this house there are a myriad of treasures to be discovered, and to find delight in.

I adore this red coo coo clock...  of course she had me at red with this one.

 This is the folding counter in her laundry room ... how cute is the buffalo plaid skirt?  I would never mind doing laundry in a room like this.

This sweet vignette is on the landing of a stair case.

 Everyone knows how I love a fairy garden, and this one is the best because its built in her grandfather's wheel barrow.

Last of all I'd like to share this adorable project that my art group did while I was gone.  I did love following them on Instagram and FB to see what they were making.  I, of course, to tryed to be jealous, as they are all so talented.

 Yes, Kim is our Queen Bee, there are several very talented artists in this group and it is wonderful to be a part of it.  A special thank you to Kim for her willingness to share her creative space and talents (and usually some supplies too) with us all.

We'll be garden touring at each other's home next month ... I can't wait.

I'll be linking to Share Your Cup, my favorite linky party here.

Teacher Appreciation with a Circus Theme

 This is my daughter Britt who will be 43 this year.  She just graduated from college with a dual major in French and English.  

 She is also the most supportive PTA parent I have ever met.  She was in charge of Teacher Appreciation week.  This cute bulletin board was created by another PTA parent.  I love it.

The day after Britt graduated she went to work putting together said teacher appreciation week.  Since her Dad and I had stayed on, after the rest of the family headed home, we helped her as much as we could.  Here she is using plastic table clothes from the dollar store to create a circus tent feel in the teachers lounge.

 This is the photo booth she created so the teachers could create memories of the fun week.

These are the props for the photo booth.

The table center pieces were my contribution.

On Monday she put together an Italian Soda bar.  On Tuesday she did a nacho bar, including a chocolate fountain running nacho sauce.  One day there were breakfast sandwiches, etc. 

I thought I'd share a couple of the teachers' doors in the Greatest Teachers on Earth tradition, in keeping with the 'Greatest Showman/Circus' type theme.


She did a great job and got lots of compliments.  We were proud of her.

We Celebrate Amazing Finland's 100th Year and Sisu too.

Not long after we got our call to come to Finland to serve a senior mission for our church, (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or The Mormons) we found out that we would be here for Finland's Centennial year.  We were so excited.  There have been many experiences we've had, because they were available to celebrate the Centennial.  We toured the President's House last summer, its every bit as grand as the White House.  There were bigger and better fireworks this year as well.  We even got to sauna in the world's largest wood burning sauna. (It seats 200, but our group had just 100.  The fire for the sauna has to burn for two days before the day of the event to insure its hot enough!)

Then the long awaited event happened!! On December 6th, Finland celebrated its 100th birthday.  I bought a commercial mud cake (Yummy) and added powdered sugar for snow, and a snowman I made just for the cake.

 I decorated the table, and hung a banner of Finnish flags.

I even embellished a paper star with blue and white felt balls and blue and white strips.  Mr. P said it now looks like a pinata ... hmmmm.

Then I  bought all the traditional Finnish foods we've been enjoying, like this Makkara (Finnish Sausage) ... I took a picture of the package so you can see the 100 in the upper left hand corner of the blue and white packaging ... many things has been labeled like that this year.

I asked Missionary friends that I work with to bring other Finnish favorites ...

 Then we gathered for dinner ... those who had blue clothing wore it!

 Here we go, started at the boiled potatoes, then Makkara,we go clockwise.  Under the sausage is a cold beat salad, quite like potato salad, but pink, next is a carrot and rice casserole.  There are the quintessential cucumber slices and meat balls, then a piece of salmon (and it's lemon) and last of all is a riisipiirakka (traditional rice pie) which is served with egg butter. (A hard boiled egg, chopped with a tablespoon of firm butter will be enough for two pies).  Yep!  All Yummy!

 For dessert we had the mud pie with a lot of whipping cream, and these pastry stars, which are traditional for Christmas.  

 Here are the office people, ourselves, Sister Airto, the Londons, Sister Potter and Sister Romberg.

After dinner, a few of us headed out to the cemetery, where it is always traditional to place candles on the graves of loved ones and fallen soldiers.

This is an area of the cemetery that is dedicated to soldiers.  The large cross is a general area where candles, flowers and wreaths are left to honor all of the war dead.  It is beautiful and peaceful, and a good place to pay homage to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, so that this small (numbers wise, just 6 million people) country, who has stood up to its monstrously powerful eastern neighbor, can be free.

After we got to Finland, I read up on the Winter War, at the beginning of WWII when Russia invaded Finland.  There were more Russian Soldiers involved in the invasion, than there were Finnish citizens at the time. Finland stood up to Russia, and many conclude that Finland won the first part of the war. When Russia regrouped later, and fought smarter, Finland, with dignity came to the table to negotiate, and though they lost about 1/5th of their landmass, and had to agree to pay Russia's war costs (really Russia?) they maintained their autonomy as a country.  They also actually paid off their war debt to Russia (it took until the end of the 1950's) and were the ONLY country involved in WWII who did so.

Can you tell that I have come to love and respect these people?  They even have a word that describes what it takes to be a Finn.  The word is sisu.  It means have the guts to do what has to be done, no matter how hard, and to do it without whining.