Well, everyone else is doing it, right?

I don't even have interesting stuff to talk about.

Still very excited about the up-coming trip, less than two weeks from now. A bit sad because it's going to be so short :/ I always stay in Finland for two weeks, but I can't this time because I have to be in my hometown on the 15th (wedding) and my SO is going to France (his employer is sending him) on the 26th, so I'm leaving on that day. And very early, too (7 am) so it doesn't even count. So it's just ten days. Better than nothing, I know. We'll try to make the most of it, even though midsummer seems like it's going to take a whole lot of time (and it's just the weekend.) We decided to just stay in Espoo for one day after I get there, and then go to his parents' place on Tuesday (his friends won't start coming in for midsummer until Thursday) so we can visit his brother and go to the summer house to see his grandmother and cousin. It's a lot of driving around but Finland in summer is so beautiful, I won't mind. After midsummer festivities we'll probably leave on Monday to go back to Espoo and then I'll just have a day and a half with him before I fly home I hate it that I'm always considering leaving even before I get there.

Anyway, about his brother (the eldest, Tommi) and his fiancée. She's still pregnant (thank goodness) and she has been officially diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. She is doing much better now, but still has to take medication to fight off nausea. We heard a few days ago that they're going to have a baby girl So, so happy about that. And not just for them. Let me explain my ridiculous line of thinking: I come from a culture where having a boy is almost primordial (which is silly because it's not like we inherit nobility titles or anything. Though now that I think about it, the inheritance system here is copy/pasted from the Quran, and naturally it favours boys, who get double what girls get, but if there are no boys, other living relatives get more stuff than the girls. It's horribly unfair. But still, it's not like everyone has palaces to leave their children.) Umm, anyway, the main reason my parents had four daughters when they could barely afford it is that they were hoping for a son. I found out later in life that they were going to try for a fifth (plain madness in our financial situation) but then my mother's menopause hit, and that was the end of it. This got kinda ingrained in me and I decided early on that I'd rather have a son than a daughter. But then, as I said, I changed my mind because baby girls are awesome! And my nephew is so mean, I don't really want to deal with that

So anyway, my sister' in-laws only had sons, and she had a son, and her brother-in-law too had a son. My SO also comes from an all-boys households, so in my head, it's very likely I'll just have boys! I know that's not how it works at all. But when I heard Jaana was pregnant I told myself "that's it, if she has another boy (she has two from her previous marriage) you are DOOMED!" So this gives me a little hope Also my in-laws really like little girls. Dunno if I ever mentioned it but my mother-in-law runs a daycare in her house, and my father-in-law is absolutely smitten with these two little girls (sisters) that come in daily. I guess it's because he wasn't really exposed to them since he only had sons. A lot of repetitions in this last paragraph.

ANYWAY, what I meant to say is: YAY BABY GIRLS!

So I have to buy a gift. Don't know if they have baby showers in Finland, or if she is having one. In my culture it is customary to give gifts to the mother/child after the child is born (probably because you shouldn't just assume that god will give you a live/healthy offspring) in fact, it used to be frowned upon to even buy the baby's bed before it's born, but people don't care anymore. But in any case, this one is due in October and I'll most likely won't be there. So better give the present now. I'll probably buy some piece of clothing. It'll be easier now that we know the gender. I'll try not to make it pink because the "pink for girls/blue for boys" thing pisses me off.

I also need to buy something for cousin Niina and for grandmother. Really can't think of anything. The previous times I brought Niina some kinds of traditional candies/pastries/halva but lately she always seems to be on some kind of diet so I wouldn't want to add to the pressure. Maybe something to decorate her house with. Mummu (gran) is apparently happy with alcohol, so I could get her a bottle of liquor once there. My in-laws always insist that I don't bring them anything, and I might just take their word for it this time because I'm out of "pretty local stuff foreigners might like" kind of presents to give them. I will bring them a kilogram of dates because I always do and my mother-in-law loves those. And probably some chocolate for Tapani, my other brother-in-law.

So that's me, before every trip, making lists of things to buy and always feeling like I'll never have enough time or money >:{ Saturday is the only day in which I can go shopping (shops close very early on work days. Like 7 pm, max, if you're lucky) and I only have one left. The Saturday before my trip will be spent at the salon, most likely, getting various body parts waxed and my hair done. I might take a day off of work next week if I don't manage to get everything.

Ok, that's enough boring stuff for now.