NordenBladet – Do you know how old you get? You see, I never know how old I am and how old I am getting… When I think about it or when someone asks me that, I will subtract my year of birth from the current year… Of course I know generally, if it’s „this age” or „that age”.. but WHICH one then, tht I will always need to calculate… Is that normal?

Until some point I desired to be older than I really was (like all of us do). I also see the same tendency in my children. For example, when I tell Ivanka, „Oh my little chickling” then she gets annoyed.. She says she is no chickling, she’d rather be a hen since the hen is older and the chickling is just a baby. hahaaa..

There was a time when I thought that before this or that age I won’t be taken seriously.. if only I could be 26 or 28, etc. Even before that I thought that in order to become successful it only takes to study well and make an effort, or take the other way and find a rich husband. Neither answer is right. I lacked self confidence and I thought that a 19-year-old talking about her ideas will not be taken seriously. And I wasn’t taken seriously because I destroyed a large part of my creativity with my wrong beliefs and even when I had a good idea I lacked knowledge how to realize that idea, whom to consult, how to act. Nowadays the youths are so much more advanced compared to my younger self – the society knows that already a 20+ youth can become the leader of a unicorn, playing with power and money.

I have a bit more than a month until my next birthday and I thought I would write down what I have achieved and what I would recommend for the 19-year-old Helena-Reet.

What have I achieved by today and what I wish today that I had known when I was younger?

1. I have two wonderful daughters, 16-year-old Estella Elisheva and 14-year-old Ivanka Shoshana. Though I am quite fed up with the children (pardon!), their wishes, their hobby classes, caring for them, waking up early and chauffeuring them around, still they are so amazing, I love them very much and until now they are the greatest achievement of my life!!!

2. I can look back to nearly 20 years of partnership with the father of my children with whom we separated two and a half years ago and which gave me a super useful lesson:

a) no relationship, even the one that started in the most beautiful way, will last if you do not care for it with full awareness and don’t put your reciprocal attention and love in it.

b) even the biggest of love and trust can end in an ugly way and unexpectedly. The person who you believed to be the one who „sleeps the sleep of death with you some day” can pull everything down and no verbal agreements, thoughts, decisions, etc are not valid anymore. A love that has been hurt (that has often also turned into convenient habit) can be very sensitive and even spiteful.

c) your relationship (with literally anyone) is exactly as good as good, caring and mindful YOU ARE. If only people knew that (and understood it profoundly), then all relationships would be extremely beautiful and happy!

3. If for some reason you have gone through a divorce…….then still do not stop believing in TRUE LOVE. Money is very important but love and kin spirit is even more important!

Once you have found the kin spirit – then KEEP, HONOUR, CONFORM and LOVE! ? (Allan and Helena-Reet, 2022)

4. If only young women (girls) would understand how much more they put in the relationship as compared to the (old) men that they are chasing. It’s like a penny compared to a million. How fragile and pure their soul is and HOW different the memories and background they come from, it will never beat in the same rhythm with their partner.. There are always exceptions, but it’s more safe and statistically more useful and more reasonable to spend the youth loving, not loving money. There are no free meals, there are transactions to which both sides agree to but which can truly be understood only by the older partner.

5. For over two years I have been contemplating, thinking about one question that I once posed to Allan as a joke:

„Woud you choose me over 10 billion euros?”, „Woud I choose you over 10 billion euros?” … Think about it, profoundly and seriously..which would you choose..honestly? I once found one, then another answer (mostly I tended to choose the money).. but today I know precisely – I would choose You! I couldn’t sit on all of the world’s money without You.. without love, without a friend, a kin spirit. Love is worth it all – risk, loss, victory, and at least I believe that it would be better to suffer with a loved one than sit alone on a throne with a stripped soul, in solitude.

Allan, I love you UNCONDITIONALLY, TRULY, PASSIONATELY, MINDLESSLY and WILDLY, and Margus, I love You just the same, today a bit differently, but always and forever. ❤ ❤ ❤

6. Once more I am only talking about my own experience.. but I believe that the so-called „old pattern” works well and the woman is happy when she can be feminine. A feminine woman will need a masculine man, and the man is masculine only when the woman is gentle and feminine. It’s a circle and you cannot put your finger on the starting point. But the starting point is really simple… YOU are the starting point! You can always start with yourself. People will always treat you the way you let them treat you! You always get what you think you deserve! I love it when the man is wearing the pants and dominates.

7. …which doesn’t mean that I couldn’t be a powerful and active woman. I am INDEPENDENT.. I have a large garden and house (without a bank loan!), I completely lack any bank loans (if you don’t count daily trading and the temporary amplifications), I have many businesses and working brands, I have a 5-lingual media business that caters tens of thousands of Scandinavians daily, I have investments in several Scandinavian and American entreprises, I have hobbies (I paint and try to write books). And on top of it – I know that ME, ME MYSELF am the maker of my own luck! Only me.. and everything else is great luck, great blessing, dividends and life’s bonuses.

I never want to be alone, but I am not afraid of being alone and I am not bored while being alone. I like to plan the future with my loved one, it would rock to become very successful together and conquer the world together, but I know that my current achievements are such that they have earned me honour and success.

8. It is always worth investing in health and studies.

9. It is not necessary to be afraid of setbacks and failures.. if you don’t have them then possibly you have never risen and achieved.

10. Not everything is perfect, need not be perfect and cannot be perfect. Share your dreams also „halfway ther” and „on the way”. Myself for example I have omitted sharing several things in my blog since I have thought I’d wait until things are „ready”. The majority of things will never be ready, they DEVELOP, GROW, TAKE SHAPE.

11. And to end it with.. YES, also when you are 40+ you somehow have to wait until your parents pass away so that you can begin living eventually. Agree with that or start living! (I agree with it or I’d choose a different opening picture….hahaa ? lol

Less worrying!
Stay cool!
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: 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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – June is over.. another school year has ended for the children, financial reports of the year have been submitted, a proper collapse on the stock exchange has been witnessed (I’m still digesting it.. and possibly also in August), plans for the summer have been made (gardening works, more gardening works, heat insulation of the house and certainly work across the websites, etc) …at the same time I enjoy everything that I do and I do everything just as much as I please and just at the moments when I please. What a luxury!!

The days have been so busy that today on July 11th I am posting the blog that I started on July 1st 😛

Last week we purchased two-day passes for Retrobest festival that takes place in Pühajärve park in Otepää, but on Thursday it suddenly appeared that nobody can look after Ivanka on Friday, so we decided to sell our tickets with financial losses. And more financial losses were to come on Friday. Since the end of the month was depressing on the stock market, then despite the slight rise on Friday I admitted that May and June produced a lot of losses and it isn’t soon that the markets will rise again – it is more beneficial to own some of the losses and then buy the shares at an even lower price again so that the money won’t be stagnant. Yes, indeed, it is a very depressing feeling (plus…you feel it sharply how the older generation of your family will judge and condemn you, think of you as a casino addict, a gamer…) but it’s not like that. On the stock exchange market you invest money. You invest into the businesses that you believe in. Ok, trading is a bit different, you invest short term, but still, you don’t place the money on the roulette table but into the shares of an actual enterprise. This is a very big difference. Besides, a normal person enters the stock market with the money that doesn’t belong to the wellbeing fund or doesn’t have to do anything with the money that concerns home, long term investments in life, or the daily bills.

I have analyzed, why did that loss occur? And the answer was simple.. Yes, sure, the main reason was that the markets and world economy are going through generally very tough and rough times, but the truth also is, I became greedy…

  DON’T GET GREEDY, this is trading rule number one.

  KEEP 50% OF THE PORTFOLIO IN MONEY AT THE END OF THE DAY aka sell the shares by the end of the stock exchange day, this is rule number two.

  DISPERSE PROPERLY.. aka trade several shares of the stock exchange enterprises..

… but now we get back to point one. The less money you have the more beneficial it is to trade one or two things, because you get greedy and want quick profit. Not to say that with too small sums even the volatile market won’t help you – you need money to make money. At an unstable time like this it is especially beneficial to keep the portfolio in money at the end of the day, because tomorrow may bring winds of change. When you have completed 4-5 successful waves during the day (this is how I call injections of finances on the market), then even when in the evening before the end of the market you sell the shares with a slight loss it is safer than keeping the amplification overnight and accepting surprises of the new day (which lately have only been “falling knives”). Currently the markets are so upside down that keeping growth shares seems quite meaningless. I have prepared several excel spreadsheets for myself to quickly calculate which choice is most beneficial – buying more, keeping, or selling or.. selling with losses and buying again at a lower price. July 7th and 8th were promising on the markets… but it seems the joy was ephemeral.

Today the S&P 500, Dow 30, Nasdaq, Russell 2000, Crude oil, etc are all once more in red and in great minus. What can I say…nothing else than it is a peaceful feeling today because on July 7th (before the 15% rise I sold most of the trading shares) 😀

Summer is a rather bad time for trading anyway… the market is sleepy and it feels better to be outside. The weather is so fine, no doubt, and it is so good to be outside. If you have your own garden, it is a luxury!

I often lay the table outside (I want and like every day to be special, beautiful.. I like taking good care of my man and my children and I like when real life is even prettier than in home design or cooking magazines. I believe that the everyday little things are what make life beautiful. Pleasing the eye is very important and is worth the effort! The little extra effort, and it brings so much warmth to your home and makes your life beautiful and luxurious. LITTLE beautiful moments are what will be long remembered!

What else? I have discovered that quite near to our home there is the Maidla Lake with a neat beach. You understand, I have lived here nearly 20 years and it is only now that I’ve heard of it. A very pleasant place to go swimming, a lot more enjoyable than driving to Laulasmaa to swim.

Read, swim, enjoy the weather and create beautiful moments for yourself!
Have a great summer, hugs and kisses and until the next blog post!
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: 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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – On Saturday morning we packed things with Hanna-Liisa to be loaded on the car to be taken from Tallinn to Tartu, then I quickly watered the entire garden (there is still this heat wave), we drove to the town so that Allan’s mother could feed her cat and then the four of us headed towards Tartu. We thought we’d take Hanna-Liisa to Tartu and then the three of us would continue on towards Viljandi, but on the way the plan changed.

We made a stop at Imavere at Tikupoiss, had hearty meals (gosh how good their BBQ and the poppy seed buns are!) and then we decided that we will all go to Vorbuse to visit my elder sister Marie and her husband Raido. We did as we intended. We took the stuff to Hanna-Liisa’s place, quickly went to the shop and then drove to the bank of Emajõgi to celebrate another Midsummer – once more we barbecued, Raido sang karaoke and we enjoyed the outdoor tub. The music was so loud all night long that I felt sorry for the neighbours and for my own ears.. iccccc. I always look forward to visiting my older sister and while I’m there I look forward to having some peace and quiet 😀 They are always so full of energy and so tiring and then there’s always that loud music… After having visited them I always feel like a senior loner that wishes to hide somewhere alone. On the other hand, nobody else is as much fun as they are! They are the most joyful, energetic and hospitable people that I know!

In the morning after breakfast we drove to Saadjärve for a second and further down to Räpina where Allan’s brother has bought a large plot near the river and where he will be building a house. On the road in several places people sold strawberries that had been picked straight from the Estonian fields.. Gosh, how big, sweet and good, and with half the price as compared to Tallinn. In Räpina we admired the plot, chatted for an hour, and then Allan’s mother stayed with Allan’s brother and me and Allan drove to Viljandi. When we got to Viljandi we were already so tired that we didn’t have the energy to go anywhere. We visited our favourite pizzeria and drove back home.

Midsummer and the long weekend has passed once more. The children are back home and it is time to tune myself to the working frequencies.

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – Yesterday was again Helena-Reet’s and Allan’s day – two years and two months of love! The morning began with pancakes and the evening got even sweeter – as is our tradition, every month on the 22nd I make either lasagne or whipped cream cake or both. Yesterday I made a nice banana-strawberry cake and Allan brought me four plants that have already found their places in the flower-bed.

WEDNESDAY, 22 June

Yesterday morning I mowed the lawn for several hours, then I took a shower and at 12.45 I had booked a 90 minute massage. At three o’clock Allan met her mother in the town to drive her to our place for a two-three-day summer vacation. In the evening I packed children’s things for the trip to Saaremaa, then we drank wine and ate the fried Baltic herrings that Allan’s mother had prepared. Yummmm.

THURSDAY, 23 June

In the morning the children and Margus went to Saaremaa for three nights (until Sunday). After that we started working in the garden. I started to weed the flower beds and then finished mowing the lawn, and Allan took apart the veranda in front of the house. The house needs heat insulation in the basement and just like that we can also build a new veranda at some point. We worked hard for a few hours in the garden in the heat of the Sun (the weather was fine – ca 30 degrees Celsius!) and then I started preparing salad for the Midsummer dinner and to lay the table. By dinner time also my parents and my younger sister Hanna-Liisa came.

Our menu was as follows: Allan barbecued meat – we had Armenian shashlik (Karni) and Blueberry shashlik (Rakvere). These were accompanied by fresh salad. Besides also fresh blueberries, grapes and the cake I made.

It was however a rather silent party with parents – vodka was on the table just for the sake of it (father was driving and mother agreed to take just one shot after I advertised the opportunity) and when I poured more wine for my sister, she exclaimed: “She is YOUR little sister, HOW come you make her drunk” …icccc 😀 Such a story… With my parents it is always as if I sin unless I work hard nonstop and feel sad at the same time. Of course, it is not so serious, really it was a pleasant evening. We must spend time with our parents, then we are less sorry once they are not there anymore (Allan tells me this every day). At about ten my parents went back home, while Hanna-Liisa and Sirli stayed for the night. Tomorrow the four of us will drive to Tartu (me, Allan, Allan’s mum Sirli, and Hanna-Liisa).

Until tomorrow! Have a beautiful Midsummer’s night!
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: 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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – Children have completed their classes and have summer holidays! Ivanka Shoshana completed the 7th grade of Tallinn Tondi School on June 14th and Estella Elisheva completed today, on June 21st the 9th grade of Tallinn Jewish School. Estella will continue on in the gymnasium in another school – Tallinn Music and Ballet School MUBA (read more about it HERE).

The first picture depicts Estella Elisheva at the opening ceremony of the first class, after that there’s a gallery of graduating from 9th class. The graduation ceremony was held both in Russian and in Estonian. Estella sang and played the violin. After the ceremony Estella stayed at school – they had a brief get-together with classmates, there was no graduation party in the classical sense. Me, Allan, Ivanka Shoshana and my mother and father went to Vesivärava cafe after the ceremony, and then headed home to prepare for Midsummer. Luckily the weather was super good and a heat wave will be moving across the Nordic countries in the coming days.

Estella’s graduation ceremony outfit: white blouse (Naf Naf Paris), jeans (Malon British), white lace boots (Madonna /Vero Cuoio Made in Italy. Hairdo by herself, not wearing any makeup. 🙂

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – Mornings here at Murimäe are wonderful – surrounded by beautiful nature, silence, birds singing and intoxicating good smell from the lilacs and lavenders! There are miraculous views from the windows. Really, the time passes more slowly here, there is no hurry. It is a great luxury to live in the countryside and be the master of your own time!

„Good ideas and thoughts that make you successful and that are worth carrying out do not come by the hundreds. It is enough when you have one great idea in a week or even in a month.” This saying originates from a billionaire, but I do not remember exactly anymore who and when said so. But the point is true, I’d say. People working without motivation (including overworking) oftentimes have just the capacity to do their paid tasks mechanically and burn out sooner or later. It takes a lot of time but there are few results. This doesn’t mean of course that the entrepreneurs themselves do not sometimes overwork – they do, and even more. When you work for yourself then the only thing you think about is work, but here’s a catch – time planning! Everything goes neatly if you plan your time and this is my strong side!

I am happy that I have been able to arrange my life so that I can enjoy each day, decide on my own, at what time, where and what I do! Ok, there are indeed some limitations to this (for example taking the kids there and back) and certainly I cannot decide when the stock markets close or open, but all the rest I can plan by myself! Also, I manage NordenBladet, OHMYGOSSIP sites, Elisheva & Shoshana brand and other undertakings so that people who should so wish can work from home. I value results, not the amount of office hours.

Enjoying life has become more and more important to me. Unfortunately, I am not yet very skilled at it. Yet more and more I take time for myself (for reading, painting, doing this and that in the garden, cooking, car trips, for a good rest, etc). Besides, health and looks. I try to be more active (current favourite sport is mowing the lawn), a few times a month I take a massage and go to the SPA, have my nails (manicure, pedicure) and lashes done, as well as epilation and depilation are the minimum that I do monthly. Yet enjoying life is also in the details – beautifully laid table and nicely served food, beautiful beds of flowers and herbs, in the evening a cold beer on the veranda (my new favourite is 0,0% Esterlla Damm) accompanied with good music, making plans with your loved one, etc… ??

Let’s write a bit also retrospectively.. On May 29 we had in our garden a small joint birthday celebration for Ivanka Shoshana (14) and Estella Elisheva (16). We played darts and the jeopardy game Kuldvillak. The latter is a great social game. JeopardyLabs has prepared a nice computer version where you can ask the questions yourself or use the game that others have created (see HERE). We brought the TV outside to connect the screen and played for several hours.

Now one of my favourite subjects… NATURE & GARDEN!

Would I have believed it if I had said it 10 years ago – I can’t wait to go outside and weed the flowerbeds, or that I can’t wait to go to the gardening centre to look for new plants. Hahaaa ? ?

Today it is exactly so… in the garden I feel well. Springtime is sooo beautiful, everything is blossoming. I have become a great fan of nature, I even go outside and talk to the spruce cones in the garden, not to mention that I like to take pictures of everything.

Besides, I like to gather herbs. I gather them in a way that also attracts others to do the same. Currently the dandelion and primrose season is ending. Both are mighty Northern herbs that can be used on the table for tea, honey, syrup as well as garnish! In Elisheva & Shoshana care cosmetics we use dandelion often in soaps and skin healing ointments. For instance, we have a fine silky and nourishing E&S „Dandelion and goat milk soap“.

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!

NordenBladet – Good morning! Make sure to find some time now, since this blog is going to be a long one! Celebrations in our home again! Namely, my younger daughter is 14 years old today. Estella and Ivanka have their birthdays exactly two years and one week apart. Estella Elisheva was 16 years old on May 16th, and Ivanka Shoshana is 14 years old today on May 23rd. We have always celebrated their birthdays together, on the last weekend of May or the weekend before. This year we celebrate on May 29th.

We woke Ivanka with gifts, flowers and birthday song and I festively lay the table before she went to school – as always, a homemade cookie cake was not missing from the table. It gets more and more difficult to make presents to the children because they already have everything. Actually the thing is that on ordinary days they get more new things than on birthdays because we buy the things whenever there is a need for that and not when there is the „duty” to do so.

Usually, every year, Ivanka Shoshana has let me know what she wants for her birthday (mostly soft toys) but this year she didn’t know what to wish. Thus we had to figure it out on our own. One day I played music from my phone to the spekers and asked her to choose the music what to listen to. She searched from YouTube and found Liis Lemsalu. Then I got the idea that one gift could be Liis Lemsalu’s concert. I gave a hint to Margus. Margus then immediately ordered a Liis Lemsalu fan T-shirt and took concert tickets for the end of May. Besides, Ivanka went to play table tennis with her Dad, also went to the museum and got the game Wonders of the World. We gave her a sports watch, necklace and an hour of massage.

(Blog continues after the photo gallery and in between)

I now move backward towards the beginning with the news.

Yesterday was again the 22nd or Helena-Reet’s and Allan’s day or Love Day or Lasagne and/or whipped cream cake day ❤ ❤ ❤ . We woke up early – birds were singing and the sun was shining and hands were itching to start with gardening works. For breakfast I made fresh sea cabbage salad and along with it freshly pressed orange juice, and for dinner we had of course the lasagne that I had made.

The recipe for sea cabbage salad has been created by myself and those of you who like fish/seafood, then grab a pencil and write it down because it is really the BEST! Yum!

You will need:
1 pack (500g) Kapten Grant’s natural sea cabbage salad
1 pack (380g) Alma 5% classic cottage cheese
2 cans (2 x 185g) chopped tuna fish in brine or in tomato sauce
4 tomatoes (chop into cubes)
80-100g peeled pumpkin seeds
For garnish a strawberry and a primrose!

PS! You may like this idea or not but the food always tastes better when it has been beautifully served. Table cloth, flowers in a vase, self made clay dishes, a beautiful paper or cloth napkin, well served food. I always place the food on the plate beautifully and add garnish. Spring is a great time for that, since in the garden there are already several herbs (oregano, thyme, chives, etc) and flowers are also suitable for garnish (currently there are primrose, dandelion and pansy, soon there will be fireweed, lilacs, cornflower, lavender and marigold, etc)

Let’s continue on the topic of birthdays and celebrations! On Friday, 20 May we celebrated in O’Learys in Tallinn Ülemiste Center Allan’s brother’s Ardo’s 45th birthday! We played bowling and Shuffleboard.

Now about the garden and gardening! FINALLY the weather is warm and it’s possible to work in the garden! Life in the countryside is sooo cool!

This year spring came late. April still had night frosts, snow and sun all interchangeably, mainly we could cut the branches, build the stack for firewood, and rake. Now in May I have already been able to work in the garden. Last year Allan made me two wooden flowerbeds which were taken into use this year. I sowed salad, dill and onion and planted chives, oregano, thyme and peppermint that had already been pre-grown. Afterwards I gazed happily at the beautiful result for an hour! It is such a good feeling to look at things you have done with your own hands. That feeling when you are sweaty from head to toe, muddy but satisfied. After gardening works I walk several circles in the garden and simply look at what has been done, a hundred times, I smile to myself, enjoy it and feel endlessly happy. There’s no other way in the nature and in the garden. The nature liberates you and makes you happy!

Besides herbs I also planted flowers to the flowerbeds and pots – white and lilac chamomile, „Cardonna” sage, Arends rockfoil (white and light pink), lavender, daffodils and marigolds. I also replanted some lilies. Unfortunately, most of the lilies that I planted last year, went out. Now I am wiser when choosing flowers. It’s good to ask before buying, which flowers will endure the Northern winter and which will not, and for the sake of saving money it is wise to plant to the flowerbeds the permanent plants, not seasonal plants.

Allan had pregrown the flower seeds and made me a flowerbed! I hope something will come out of it finally. He was smiling widely and glowing with happiness when he made the flowerbed. It’s going to be a Toots-flowerbed, including different things like marigolds (Calendula officinalis L.), dahliae (Dahlia pinnata Cav.), tobacco flower (Nicotiana alata Link and Otto), sage (Salvia splendens Sellow ex Schult.), dragon flower (Antirrhinum majus L.), and zinnia (Zinnia elegans dahlienflora)…

There has been more planting. From Palivere we brought lilies-of-the-valley and planted them home under the fir trees. Besides, we bought from Juhan’s plant business and Hortes gardening center young bushes – beautiful yellow forsythia (Forsythia Minigold) and pink-blossomed Spiraea japonica „Magnum Rose”. Every year we add something to the garden. Me and Allan we are both great fans of gardening and this is one thing that bonds us together – we love being in the garden and in the nature, it is fun to plan together, design together and care for the garden together. Like A.H. Tammsaare said – work hard and labor, then comes love 🙂

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT GARDENING EVENT… on May 13th we planted in the garden two mother-and-father trees – two oak trees „Fastigiata”. Now we have in the garden personal trees for Estella, Ivanka, and my mother and my father!

It seems I must post blogs more often, since it is difficult to reflect on everything all at once… still several things are left out 🙂 But that’s all for this time… I’ll now go outside to mow the lawn!

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
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
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!
Helena-Reet: Waking up with excitement, living to the fullest, NEW PAINTING AGAIN and an overview of tonight’s non-alco beer testing
Helena-Reet: SHOULD I get a “winter home” in Spain, about cultural events, and about the new Mouse painting + GALLERIES!
Helena-Reet: Shocking documentaries, my wonderful life + OUR TODAY’S NEW YEAR’S EVE!
Helena-Reet: Christmas + BIG GALLERY added
Helena-Reet: Today’s blog – Wonderful life in the countryside, operetta “The Merry Widow” in Estonian National Opera, Paintball, 2 birthdays and ginger bread season!
Helena-Reet: In Tartu V SPA and in Vorbuse, the Comedy Estonia “Autumn Tour” and plenty of other exciting things!
Helena-Reet: COMPLETE overview of my week and AHH, MEN, HOW GOOD IT IS THAT YOU EXIST!

NordenBladet – My last blog post was on April 18. What has happened meanwhile? The main keywords would be: Helena-Reet + Allan 2 years of love, Estella Elisheva’s performance with Georg Ots Symphony Orchestra, Estella’s admission to MUBA and her 16th birthday, my activities in the garden, renting of the 4-room apartment in Palivere, Mother’s Day, several NordenBladet’s meetings and of course…. oooooh, more precisely OOOOOOH – the situation on the US stock market ?? !

Let’s start from the beginning. On April 22 we celebrated with Allan two years since getting acquainted! And our love only grows and grows! We are such a great match that it is even a bit embarrassing to boast about our happiness (but I still do so) ?. We still have the tradition that on the international Allan and Helena-Reet’s Day that is celebrated monthly on the 22nd, I make lasagne and whipped cream cake and Allan brings me flowers. For the first anniversary I got a beautiful pot of Hydrangea, which inspired me to later paint the piece “A Year of Love“. That 30x40cm acrylic on canvas painting also made it to an exhibition at the Estonian National Museum in 2021. How cool is that?! 🙂

This year Allan gave me a handful of liverleaves (Hepatica nobilis), which, to be honest, I found insulting at first. But then I started to think, which I would prefer, something made for me with love from the heart, or something to boast with to the world. Allan specially went to the forest to pick me those flowers. So lovely, isn’t it!!! Besides, he said, like the year before, that he will give me an entire flowerbed again. Last year we went to buy permanent plants and this year he will grow flowers from seeds himself… I can’t wait to see what the new flower bed will look like 🙂

After breakfast I started preparing for the evening, because we had invited a few guests. The guests were my younger sister Hanna-Liisa and one of Allan’s friends, Kristo. Actually we had also invited Allan’s brother with his wife, as well as my older sister with her husband, but it came out that Ardo and Tiina had to work at that time and Marie and Raido, who were supposed to return from Turkey that day, had decided to extend their travel and had gone to Italy. Below are some pictures of the festive table. I prepared a quiz with questions about me and Allan, we talked, enjoyed food and drinks and had a great time. It was a great evening!

End of April was the time for admission to Tallinn Music and Ballet School MUBA. And Estella Elisheva was admitted to violin studies as a major! Tadaa! This means that from next year on she will not be taking music classes as an extracurricular activity at Saku Music School and Georg Ots Tallinn Music College, besides going to Tallinn Jewish School, but instead she will be committed to music during her college years. The competition was intense, only two students were admitted to violin vocational secondary education. Again feeling so proud about her ??? Hahaaa.

Source: https://otsakool.edu.ee

In my previous blog (read HERE) I wrote that Estella Elisheva will perform as a soloist at Georg Ots Symphony Orchestra’s (GOSO) concert “Springtime Merry-Go-Round.” I will add a link for you where you can view the concert online:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eu9bnidt1Zf9xPvqU2YtTkoXKZowCjAU/view?usp=sharing

Estella Elisheva. Photography: Olivia E. Luggenberg

Yesterday, May 16th was the 16th birthday of my older daughter! Happy, happy birthday dear Estella Elisheva! I kind of wish to say, “OMG, how time flies,” but then again, “OMG, all this trouble with the kids.” This way time doesn’t really fly. These 16 years have been devoted to children and since my younger daughter is a child with special needs (an autist) and very likely will remain nearby forever, I start to feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel! I made her a festive breakfast (cake, presents and other chit-chat), and then off she went to school. A bigger party is pending on 29 May. 🙂

About my gardening works and plants, about investments and stock market and everything else that was not covered in this blog about the past events, you can read in the coming days from the coming blog post.

Stay cool! ❤

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: Summary of March and April
Helena-Reet: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!
Helena-Reet: Waking up with excitement, living to the fullest, NEW PAINTING AGAIN and an overview of tonight’s non-alco beer testing
Helena-Reet: SHOULD I get a “winter home” in Spain, about cultural events, and about the new Mouse painting + GALLERIES!
Helena-Reet: Shocking documentaries, my wonderful life + OUR TODAY’S NEW YEAR’S EVE!
Helena-Reet: Christmas + BIG GALLERY added
Helena-Reet: Today’s blog – Wonderful life in the countryside, operetta “The Merry Widow” in Estonian National Opera, Paintball, 2 birthdays and ginger bread season!
Helena-Reet: In Tartu V SPA and in Vorbuse, the Comedy Estonia “Autumn Tour” and plenty of other exciting things!
Helena-Reet: COMPLETE overview of my week and AHH, MEN, HOW GOOD IT IS THAT YOU EXIST!

NordenBladet – The previous blog was posted nearly two months ago, on February 22nd. The reason for that was everybody’s positive Covid test on February 23rd and the Independence Day, the end of February (including children’s school holiday) was spent in bed what concerns myself. Estella and Ivanka were only very slightly ill (their single symptom was the positive test), I on the opposite had a fever, fatigue, endless sleepiness, a running nose and cough. I slept for many days in a row and got rid of the running nose just recently.

Keywords for March were the war in Ukraine ?? and the situation regarding the stock exchange. From morning till night I was watching different news channels to keep up with the situation in Ukraine. What is going on is deeply sad and tragic and makes me value peace and freedom even more. I made a small donation to the Red Cross and took several decent clothes, footwear, bed sheets, toys, caps, scarfs, handbags etc as humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian refugees in Estonia.

Since February 27th Estonia ?? has received 31002 Ukrainian war refugees, which, considering our tiny country and small population, is a vast number! Let’s remember that the population is just 1.3 million – on January 1st 2022 according to Statistics Estonia the Estonian population was 1 328 439, therefore the percentage of Ukrainian war refugees in Estonia is already 2.33% of the population. Everyone is helping as much as possible.

The situation with the stock exchange has also kept me alert and has actually been really fascinating. Mhm, when you call red hot markets fascinating – stocks falling and falling and traders using the amplification loan overcoming several microinfarctions a day, and partly not so tenderly watching the interest numbers growing.. hahaa.. Despite all, the great volatility of the market gives lots of good opportunities for good productivity and keeping in mind long term perspective it is good to collect several dividend shares. The extreme widths of Bollinger Bands would possibly surprise even John Bollinger himself. Quite a certain bottom of the market might even be the start of the „falling knife”. But… in spite of all of the above March came with good productivity – 22%! But before we rejoice, we must wait until the end of April, since this time may „eat up” all of March productivity.

For Women’s Day (8 March) I baked a cake, made salad and oven potatoes. Allan arranged the season’s first grill outside and brought flowers. Me, Ivanka and Estella also got three gorgeous bouquets of wonderful tulips also from Allan’s brother Ardo. I like it very much when in the rooms there are also fresh cut flowers in vases besides flower pots. For me this is part of the home’s feeling. I think there are two very important things that men could follow should they wish to have a happy and feminine wife. The best way to increase feminine energy is attention and bringing flowers, and fondling of the breasts in the evenings. Regular gentle massage of the breasts brings partners closer together, is good for the health and alleviates stress. A woman who has received enough tenderness and attention will do all that’s possible to make the man beside her happy. 🙂

On March 22nd, we celebrated for the 22th time the Allan’s and Helena-Reet’s day. It’s been 1 year and 11 months since we met! There is peace and love in the heart, I feel I am cared about, it is an amazing feeling! ? As always, this is for us a monthly celebration. Instead of lasagne I made stew for dinner and for supper I made a homemade pizza and whipped cream cake!

On March 24 Allan’s father Rein (11.09.1954 – 24.03.2022) passed away ? . The funerals were on March 30 in Pärnamäe cemetery. I am glad that I also got to know him. Rein was a great organizer, dominant, therefore during these almost two years that I knew him, I was happy to attend several nice events. We must make the events worthwhile ourselves, because emotions are what will be remembered.

March and April have both been full of emotions.

On April 1st my parents celebrated their golden wedding anniversary (50th wedding anniversary). It is great luck when your love lasts that long. My first relationship of almost 20 years ended, hopefully I can hold on to the second relationship better. Retrospectively I can tell that both sides need to put in some effort for the relationship to work – when you want the happiness and love to last, you must care for and respect each other. You must hold on to love, water it and nourish it like a plant.

I gave my parents the painting I myself painted, „Syringa vulgaris” (read more about the painting from ElishevaShoshana.com art blog HERE), it was ready in May 2019 and in 2021 it was also exhibited in the Estonian National Museum (ERM). This is the first flower painting of my life, painted by the example of my home garden’s lilacs. When handing the painting over to my parents, I said a wish: „May your love be reborn and rekindled every spring into a bonfire just like nature is reborn in springtime.”

What else is there to mention about April? Two weekends we spent in Pärnu, Estonian Medical SPA. First time with Allan’s mother and his brother’s family, and the second time me, Allan and the kids. When visiting Pärnu, a proper pizza-orgy always follows in Pärnu Steffani pizza house. We also visited the Greek restaurant „Oregano”.

Estella Elisheva (15 yrs) had/has three performances in April with Georg Ots Symphony Orchestra (GOSO) – 13 April in Kuressaare Cultural Centre, today 18 April in Tartu, Heino Eller Music School in Tubin’s concert hall, and tomorrow, 19 April in Tallinn, the Brotherhood of Blackheads house in the white hall. Estella has a solo piece with the violin, H. Wieniawski’s Légende Op. 17. First time in front of a big orchestra as a soloist!

Since on Wednesday Estella went to Saaremaa and on Thursday Margus took also Ivanka to Saaremaa, then after a while we were on our own with Allan. Gosh how good it is to be just the two of us 😀 😀 We visited Allan’s mother on Easter time, worked in the garden (I raked, we planned new flower beds, Allan built new shelves in the shed, we went for a walk and chilled just so.

This will do for this time… I will now take Estella to the bus (Tartu performance is ahead), then I go for a massage and then dive into work. 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: My magical 22.02.2022 + BEAR MARKET AT STOCK EXCHANGE, NEW PAINTING, NEW RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!
Helena-Reet: Waking up with excitement, living to the fullest, NEW PAINTING AGAIN and an overview of tonight’s non-alco beer testing
Helena-Reet: SHOULD I get a “winter home” in Spain, about cultural events, and about the new Mouse painting + GALLERIES!
Helena-Reet: Shocking documentaries, my wonderful life + OUR TODAY’S NEW YEAR’S EVE!
Helena-Reet: Christmas + BIG GALLERY added
Helena-Reet: Today’s blog – Wonderful life in the countryside, operetta “The Merry Widow” in Estonian National Opera, Paintball, 2 birthdays and ginger bread season!
Helena-Reet: In Tartu V SPA and in Vorbuse, the Comedy Estonia “Autumn Tour” and plenty of other exciting things!
Helena-Reet: COMPLETE overview of my week and AHH, MEN, HOW GOOD IT IS THAT YOU EXIST!

NordenBladet – Today’s magical-number and mirror-image-date day began at 6:30. I took the children to school and then went to Selver. I bought loads of fruit and berries – oranges, apples, grapes, cultivated blueberries, Kadarbik’s freshly pressed carrot juice and Froosh’s kiwi-spinach „Clean Green” smoothie, etc. Yum. Twice I added to basket and twice I removed from basket Pagarini’s cheesecake but I still decided not to buy. ?

Then I lay the table for the second time, this time for me and Allan. Today was our 1 year and 10 months anniversary of our meeting. Goooosh how time flies!

Every day I am so grateful that I have my own home and that in Estonia and in the Nordic countries there is peace. ? From the window I see a winter wonderland. Yesterday it was thaw weather, today it is snowing again. Yesterday, while thinking about the current complex political situation, I felt I wanted to paint something peaceful and beautiful. I took a canvas twice as large as usual (60x40cm) and for a change to the mice series paintings I painted flowers. I can already picture this painting in a massive large-edge dark brown frame! Romantic!

Returning to today’s date to which numerologists attribute rather paranormal features… I was rearranging the bookshelves at home today when quite a magical thing happened. While placing books from boxes to shelves, out fell Jaak Roosaare’s „Textbook of getting rich with stock”. The book that my neighbour-investor Jaak gave me as a gift, along with a dedication „May your dividends grow” years ago.

So what could be so special about it? The magical thing is that exactly TODAY THE MARKETS are as bearish, red, and negative as possible, in other words it is a double sign – BUY! And Helena-Reet most certainly did – not just because I believe in signs but also because it would be silly to let go of the market situation where stock exchange is done below market prices. Of course nobody can guarantee that the market levels will not sink more, but one thing is clear – volume and volatility are currently very nice and I as rather a profiteer and day trader like it a lot.

To wrap it up, here’s some food talk, too…

I created a new cool recipe – SALTY cottage cheese-minced meat cake!

Melt frozen yeast dough and place on an oven plate. Then fry the minced meat (400g) along with fresh chopped sweet pepper (1 red sweet pepper), tomato (2 tomatoes) and sundried tomatoes (ca 140g), add spices (for example Bolognese flavouring and thyme suit very well) and pour onto the cake plate and press slightly into the dough.

Then take a bowl and mix chopped onion, Alma classic 5% cottage cheese (380g), 6 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of flour and grated Atleet cheese (ca 250g) and pour onto the foundation. In the centre of the cake separately grate some more cheese and sprinkle over with pumpkin seeds. After taking out of the oven, let it stay one or two hours.

Do read also my previous blog posts (all posts are available in four languages – Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English!)

Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: Airobot IPO, Stockfanatt, cyber attack, comedy show Jokker, Eesti laul 2022, NEW PAINTING and a lot more interesting!
Helena-Reet: Waking up with excitement, living to the fullest, NEW PAINTING AGAIN and an overview of tonight’s non-alco beer testing
Helena-Reet: SHOULD I get a “winter home” in Spain, about cultural events, and about the new Mouse painting + GALLERIES!
Helena-Reet: Shocking documentaries, my wonderful life + OUR TODAY’S NEW YEAR’S EVE!
Helena-Reet: Christmas + BIG GALLERY added
Helena-Reet: Today’s blog – Wonderful life in the countryside, operetta “The Merry Widow” in Estonian National Opera, Paintball, 2 birthdays and ginger bread season!
Helena-Reet: In Tartu V SPA and in Vorbuse, the Comedy Estonia “Autumn Tour” and plenty of other exciting things!
Helena-Reet: COMPLETE overview of my week and AHH, MEN, HOW GOOD IT IS THAT YOU EXIST!