Gry Poulsen's Page

We had a fight. One of those loud and ugly affairs that leave you wondering if anything, anything at all, will ever be the same again. When even the kissing and the making up felt like an obligation rather than a happy ending to an unfortunate episode. For the first time in years I was actually worried that this would be the end, that we had lost each other in a battle of words, tears, the occasional bitch slap and slamming of doors.

I knew this morning when I wrapped my arms around him, my nose planted closely against his neck, that all the bickering in the world could not end us - but thank god we did make up, because it would be a hellish half decade coming up if we didn’t put it behind us.

I mean, won’t somebody think of the children???

So, with all of it put behind us this has been chalked up to lessons learned - perhaps more so than any other is;

Grilling? Is not something worth fighting over.

No, seriously.

The “terrible two’s” are just are just around the corner, and I’ll be damned if we haven’t noticed. The highs are even higher, the lows.. well, lets just say you have a knack for driving us mad - with love and a whole lot of frustration. One could argue there is a direct correlation between how madly we love you, and how mad you drive us.

You still aren’t talking as much as babbling nonsense, with a couple of real words thrown in for good measure. Sometimes I swear I hear a word, like “book” or “mor*”, but so far nothing sticks for too long. I’m eager for you to start talking, any day now, but I also realize that you will need more time to get it all in, and not just because you’re learning three languages, but because I’ve been less than good about narrating our days for you, the way I know you’re supposed to. I’ve been trying to step up my game a lot lately, and we’re making progress, so that’s good.

*Mor is danish for Mum

You are just as obsessed with animals as ever, but you are also finally showing an interest in stuffed animals. I’ve been hoping you’d pick something to be your lovey, but even though you now cuddle the occasional teddy bear they don’t compete with Negrita, who is your preferred victim of the three cats - if only because she is the only one not to bolt in the opposite direction when she hears you coming.

I must say, of all the things that are changing about you, I find your night time doziness the most hilarious. The other night I heard a thud in the darkness, and then nothing. My instincts kicked in and I got up to investigate. You had fallen face first onto the floor, your fall softened by spare blankets strewn around the bed, and you didn’t even wake up when I picked your lifeless body up and placed it back in bed. As a baby you’d wake from any little squeak the bed made, and now this..

Balls and balloons rule your world - the word “No” is your arch-nemesis. You no longer eat bananas. You love water. You love ice cream more..

But not as much as I love you.

I’m having a love/hate relationship with all this sunlight (it’s 9.45pm and the sun is not down yet! Welcome to the arctic*! And thank god I don’t live further up north!)

*I’m only slightly kidding..

Although if it weren’t for the summer sun, it would be a purely hate-and-more-hate relationship, as there isn’t anything else about Finland which can redeem 8 months of pale skin and sunken eyes. You know, actually I don’t have a problem with the light - Carla does. No, that isn’t true either, she absolutely loves it. Her pearly laughter from the bedroom confirms as much - and did I mention it’s almost 10pm? Toddler’s ought not even know the meaning of 10pm, and if it weren’t for people making pot-growing remarks (LOL) I’d so totally go the way of the Dooce and cover our bedroom windows in tinfoil just to get her to go to sleep at an appropriate hour.

But there is something magical about those two months in the summer when the sun is reluctant to settle. Something that makes, at least me, want to spend long afternoons at a naturally formed, large body of water, possibly naked, with a cider in one hand and a good book in the other. Evenings spent rotating between the sauna, the grill and the aforementioned large body of water. Summer nights spent in the car in the middle of an unnaturally, naturally lit highway, on the way to distant gas stations in search of even more empty calories and a quick snog in the backseat.

Indeed, there is something lovable about Finland. Too bad it’s only two months a year.
‘
Even worse, how my toddler loves it, too.

Alright, so we’re back online - for now, knock on all wood surfaces (surprisingly many in this house, I might add).. And my partition that disappeared about a week ago is finally back, too! Joy! (Someone has earned themselves a good spanking. But in a good way!)

So, Jane was wondering about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Dude, talk about opening up a black hole that is going to suck your wallet straight from your back pocket (which is quite a feat if you don’t keep your wallet there). Especially if you’re like me, and go ’Oh, shiny! I MUST HAVE!‘. Which, I can tell from a certain swimsuit post that, yes, yes she is indeed like me in that respect..

Anyway - I blame Miss A. for my addiction. Maybe because it truly is because of her that I even bother to smell nice. Juhani and Carla are probably the only people in the world who can stand my natural, er, odor - Carla mostly because she is my daughter, possibly also because she can’t talk yet, so she can’t tell me I smell like a moose carcass, and Juhani because he is weird that way.

So, what on earth is this BPAL thing?

Well.. For one, it’s perfume. For two, it’s awesome perfume!

And they are on Wikipedia, which explains it all so much better than I could. Also, this article is informative! So, why not go read up, then come back and leave a comment if you’re interested in me sending you an “imp pack” - free of charge!
(An ’imp pack‘ is six little samples, available in most of their categories, but not all.)

I’ve got two packs here of random ‘imps’, so if you’re into FREE STUFF* you know what to do..!

*Seriously, who is NOT into free stuff? Does such an abomination exist? I DARE YOU NOT TO COMMENT!

Thank god for my phone, cause the whole computer went *poof* today, too.. Damn.