NordenBladet – On July 27, among a small family circle we celebrated Allan’s 37th birthday in our garden. I prepared the snacks and food for 5-6 hours, since I wanted to lay the festive table 100% myself. Homemade food prepared with love is simply so good 🙂 The most exciting part, to my mind, is the serving and gernering part! I like it when food can be enjoyed visually. From me, the main present was the festive table, and as a so-called actual present a big, 1000-laser-token luxurious poker game set.
Every time, before a birthday or another big event, tens of ideas related to preparations cross a woman’s mind: what to put on the table? How and where to lay the table? What should be the budget? Should there be catering or should the food be homemade? Is there something to choose for someone expecting a hearty meal as well as for someone watching their weight, etc…
This time I made up new recipes for snacks. For example I filled “Flora” salty minisize salad baskets with feta cheese, sweet pepper, olive and basil, and also a success was “Linkosuo” little crispy bread snacks with pate. I garnished them with cherry tomatoes, chives and dill and pickled cucumber, dill and red currant. Yummy.. By the way, such tiny crispy bread baskets, when you order them, will cost you ca 1.20-1.50 eur each… Gosh, it’s either that I am poor or way too greedy to give out such money for just a bite.. hahaaa. (Not that preparing the snacks by yourself would save you a lot of money… but still they will be handmade and what more) 😀
(blog continues after the gallery of the birthday menu)
The children spent 5 days and 4 nights on Saaremaa (29 July – 2 August).
This time was very efficiently used for four noble and pleasant purposes:
1) Reading
I bought three new books from the Apollo book store, and have started reading and working them through. Two books have been issued by Äripäev book club, one is authored by an Estonian origin professional stock trader, instructor and psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Elder “Trading for a Living” (38.95 EUR) and Burton G. Malkiel’s “A Random Walk Down Wall Street – The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing” (41.95 EUR). The third book is from the authors Kristjan Liivamägi, Tõnn Talpsepp and Tarvo Vaarmets, they are running the webpage Rahaedu.ee and are inspiring and super talented in the fields of banking, finances, financial markets and investments, the name of the book is “Principles of Successful Investments” (39.95 EUR).
For easy reading I took something that today’s youths read. I wanted to see what Estella Elisheva (16) borrows from the library. I read through Colleen Hoover’s “Hopeless” and started reading Holly Black’s book “The Cruel Prince“.
2) Working in the garden
We mowed the lawn, trimmed, pulled out the weeds, took down several trees (an apple tree and one old pine), we also took down several bushes and an aronia hedge from the middle of the garden. There was a load of material to be burned, plus we would like to make some of the branches into mulch, the larger trunks we laid out for drying so that one fine day we could make our own handmade wooden garden furniture. Allan cut into suitable pieces and immersed the wood meant for the window surroundings of the house. We want to insulate the surroundings of the windows and afterwards we will install new boards around the windows. A lot of work was done and a lot of new duties were created – for example a load of stumps that need to be pulled out from the ground. Currently I am contemplating whether to rent or to buy the branch chopper that helps make mulch for the garden from all the branches.
Shhh! Life in the countryside is extremely pleasant but also time-consuming and expensive! A large garden requires great deeds 😀 hahaaaa…
3) Peaceful trading
The stock markets are very fascinating… still… Unbelievable what the news can do, for example that of House of representatives’ speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan. The markets fell, then there was silence and anxiety and then after her arrival the markets skyrocketed again.
The biggest trading was done with Roku, Inc. (ROKU), Intel Corporation (INTC) and both with USA NasdaqGS (COIN) as well as German Börse Frankfurt’s Coinbase Global, Inc. (1QZ.DE). Many waves were done with Intel and I currently have it for 850 shares – tomorrow it has ex-dividend day. Usually I prefer speculation, i.e. Gain from exchange (I buy cheap and sell expensively). The day before determining the dividend the shares usually rise and I mostly prefer to sell them before the dividend (provided the market is as usual… today the market is, however, anything but normal). Then again, the risk is dispersed – you either sell expensively or take the dividend. Intel pays 3.95% this year.. it is better than nothing 😀 Through Yahoo Finance I took a look at the Uniper (UN01.DE), Avantor, Inc. (AVTR) and through CoinMarketCap.com at a great deal of crypto.
I lack earlier experience bargaining with crypto. I have invested into crypto platforms but not crypto itself. Now I decided to start with it. I created for myself a Coinbase Pro account and for a start bought the following crypto money for 1500 euros: ApeCoin (APE), Dogecoin (DOGE), Filecoin (FIL), Shiba Inu (SHIB), EOS (EOS), OMG Network (OMG), Chiliz (CHZ), Polygon (MATIC), Cardano (ADA), Gala (GALA), ARPA Chain (ARPA), The Graph (GRT), SKALE Network (SKL), XYO (XYO), Rally (RLY) ja Stellar (XLM). Unmet orders are pending here: Polkadot (DOT), Tether (USDT), Liquity (LQTY) and Mirror Protocol (MIR).
? ATTENTION! The information provided is not to be considered as investments counseling, investments recommendations or other investments services or side services. Investments entail risk, the market value of investments may rise as well as fall, it is not guaranteed that the investment’s value is preserved or grows. Productivity of earlier times is no guarantee for productivity in the future. Before making an investment decision, be well acquainted with the product’s conditions and other vital information, including the fund chosen / the prospect of shares and other documents, as well as the risks related to investments. Investments may entail financial duties. With inquiries, turn to bank administrative personnel or your tax-, finances, or legal advisor.
4) … and for several other pleasant activities
That’s all for this time! Hugs!
Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)
Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: A surprise from Allan, current favorite shares, making the home more energy efficient and July in the garden!
Helena-Reet: 11 BITS OF WISDOM THAT today I would recommend for myself before the 19th birthday.. AND the answer to the question: „Would I choose you or 10 billion euros?”
Helena-Reet: STOCK EXCHANGE enterprises’ collapse & my THREE golden rules of day trading + a bit of random summertime talk 🙂
Helena-Reet: In Tartu, Saadjärve, Räpina and Viljandi
Helena-Reet: Allan’s mother visiting + Midsummer with parents
Helena-Reet: Estella Elisheva’s graduation from Tallinn Jewish School’s 9th grade + GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Enjoying life has become more and more important to me + a few pictures from children’s birthdays and a tiny gardening blog!
Helena-Reet: Ivanka’s 14th birthday, Love Day, Ardo’s birthday and LOTS OF GARDENING TALK and PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Two years with Allan! + Estella’s admission to MUBA, performing with Georg Ots Symphony Orchestra and 16th birthday!
Helena-Reet: Summary of March and April