NordenBladet – We had a wonderful weekend. Friday (22 October) was one and a half years since we met with Allan. You can read the hymn to our love HERE 🙂 I woke up with a miraculous view – three little deer were under the apple tree behind the bedroom window, eating apples! So romantic! To have your house in such a picturesque place yet so close to the city is a mega blessing! I love nature! And yes, today’s blog again has lots of food talk and food pictures… It looks like our lives largely spin around nourishment.

In the morning I served the cake that I myself made, with pistachio halwa and strawberry whipped cream, using a new recipe that I myself created! Yummy, this is probably the best cake that I have made this far… and I have made more than a million cakes! I value putting effort in the relationship. I am convinced that you must take care of the relationship, respect your partner, and develop your home atmosphere with full awareness. I wish my home to always be a very pleasant place with a friendly climate, with the feeling of wellbeing and everyone here being happy, safe and well. Now when talking about food, then I must admit my dishes almost always turn out extraordinarily delicious (I know, it is not a good thing to boast!). Never have I been schooled in gastrology, but here the creative mind and the gut feeling will lend a helping hand. Had you told me ten years ago that I spend many hours each day in the kitchen, and also do this voluntarily, I would have found it laughable. Today I feel that homemade food belongs to the kernel of a home and this is also a way to share your love with your loved ones. Today I even think I am not miles away from publishing a cookbook. Were I not already busy with a thousand things and in the midst of a million projects, I would seriously consider this option. Friends always inquire what I will be baking this time, when they visit us.

But now back to the morning! We enjoyed breakfast, scratched our Juubeliloterii lottery tickets (we won 5 euros and the net loss was 5.- euros) and then started off towards Pärnu. Since the previous evening there had been a great storm, then the sunny weather on Friday was more like a surprise. Estella Elisheva went to Viimsi to play football on Thursday (with that horrible storm) and today the results are there… but more about this later.

After arriving in Pärnu we went straight to the Port Arthur department store (Hommiku 2, Pärnu 80010) to find a swimsuit for me. I completed the shopping with three new swimsuits. Hahaaa.. We proceeded to visit the Steffani pizza restaurant (Nikolai 24, Pärnu 80011) to have dinner. It had a very cozy-clean-nice atmosphere, the prices were rather good, the service was friendly and the food was very tasty. A really fine place, I definitely recommend it!

And then it was time to go to our hotel. We spent the evening in Viking SPA sauna center and water park, and since we were still full from breakfast and lunch, then we declined the booked supper. The water park as well as the entire hotel was very crowded. I actually do not really understand why hotels do that. There are two extremes, either due to covid restrictions they close the hotels completely, or they let in as many people as the rooms can take. Yucky… honestly I do not like this and next time I do not choose to go to a SPA during a weekend. It is pleasant to be with Allan wherever, but I am not that kind of an „overcrowded” type of person. In the future I would rather visit the SPA during the week, then there will be less people. Ah yes… and imagine having two teenage children and how you desire some silence for a change, I strongly recommend an 18+ SPA (remind me to follow this guideline myself!!!)… I am a greater than average friend of children, but lately it has been somewhat annoying to hear all the crying kids and the shouting teenagers outside the home 😀 This statement coming from me indicates that I have a grave DEPRESSION!

Well yes… nevertheless we soaked well in the Viking water park and spent a beautiful evening. We went to bed early since I had a sore throat.

On Saturday we went to have dinner at a Georgian restaurant named Kolhethi (Kuninga 36, Pärnu 80014). Allan has told so many good stories of his travels to Georgia, and also we have been watching the TV3 series „Kethi with mommy in Georgia” and we also enjoyed the Channel 2 broadcast „The fast and the handsome in Georgia”. I have become quite obsessed with visiting Georgia myself and perhaps will even live in Tbilisi with my entire family for one month. Why? Oh, there are various factors here. First, of course, thanks to the great marketing work done by Allan, then the change, the warmer weather compared to Estonia, the good prices, the friendly yet not too aggressive Georgians, the inexpensive Georgian cuisine, the reasonably-priced hotels, etc. It also appears to be a safe country. Besides, I dreamt of having all the more expensive beauty care procedures done there – for instance the full body epilation costs ca 30-50 euros there while in Estonia it is 500-600 or even more. Not bad?!

Ok, so all this knowledge in our mind, we excitedly headed towards the Georgian restaurant in Pärnu. I am honest with you, I cannot really describe this emotion. The waiter serving the tables was very nice and friendly – while we stayed there he spoke fluent Estonian, Russian, Finnish and English. He smiled and was cordial… The dishes were tasty, the portions were huge, the khachapuri prepared by the chef Manana Keburia was slightly too salty but still very nice… but the place itself was somewhat gloomy and the prices were way too expensive, I think. We ordered two main courses with meat (those included a pile of French fries but quite a symbolic portion of meat), khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread), a cup of black tea and 2 Georgian beers. The bill for the dinner was 50.- EUR. We packed half of the khachapuri for takeaway. I am not sure if perhaps we are too poor or maybe the prices were a bit high… anyway it felt like we liked it and also didn’t really. Everything was almost ok, yet for this price we would have expected something extra.

So what else?

I already posted HERE that my younger daughter Ivanka Shoshana (13) is a great fan of The Loud House. Every now and then she comes to me, showing black-and-white pictures from videos that she wants to print out for colouring by herself. I decided that via Amazon I can buy her The Loud House colouring book. There were several and I ordered as many as seven – all in all for 72.12 EUR. Unfortunately, receiving the first package, I realized that though the covers of the books were different, many of the pictures inside were the same… not fun at all! Four of the books already arrived and I handed two of them to Ivanka! She pampered the books for several days and only today took the brave step to colour the first picture.

Today, Monday, greeted us all with a feeling of being unwell. A running nose, cough, etc. My sore throat started already in Pärnu. It is just Ivanka who is completely well. Estella most probably caught a cold last week at her training and shared the microbes with us, too. I decided that I won’t let the children out before all of us are fully well. The children have been vaccinated with the first shot (read more about children’s vaccination HERE) and on 30 October they will be receiving the second Covid-19 vaccine shot. I definitely do not wish to risk my own or others’ lives and I am pro isolation. Also instead of grocery-shopping I ordered food from e-selver. By the way, ordering food over the internet (from the shop as well as from the restaurant) is more and more fashionable in our family. We are regular clients of e-selver and Laagri Chopsticks that offer Chinese cuisine.

Children have their school holiday this week and so it is not too terrible that we are all here quite ill. We didn’t make very important plans for the holiday – we will rest, read books, watch movies, just so… Estella Elisheva applied for studies abroad in the United States (read HERE) and made it to the next round! Yeah! It is a very tight competition, we do hope she continues on to the third round and then gets to study abroad. Fingers crossed!! Me and Allan both had several business meetings today and now Allan is following the news, I am blogging and afterwards we watch TV. The plan is to see BBC Earth “North America with Simon Reeve” and “Mediterranean with Simon Reeve”. 🙂

Until the next blog, where I will elaborate on the children’s room renovation, training plans and a lot more! 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: That feeling when you dream of something extraordinary and the reality is EVEN BETTER! + Netflix series Squid Game, Alice in Borderland etc.
Helena-Reet: In Viru Variety Entertainment Hall, enjoying the revue theatrical entertainment Starlight Cabaret night “Creme de la Creme” + BIG GALLERY & VIDEO!
Helena-Reet: For the past two weeks we have actively worked on our home or rather say homes + OTHER STORIES!
Helena-Reet: Taking down the exhibition “Our home witch kitchen” in ERM and DRAWING LOTS who from the visitors won E&S PRODUCTS!
Helena-Reet: The 22nd date – WELL THAT IS ONE FINE day every month!
Helena-Reet: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!

NordenBladet – The keywords of this week are: love, love, some more love, long mornings, late nights, extra many Netflix series and the preparations for this weekend! Tomorrow, October 22 we celebrate with Allan the 1.5 years since our first date. So cool, I am really so happy with him! Those of you not sure, I can now 100% confirm from my own experience that kindred spirits and a perfect match (intellectual as well as sexual) exist! May the Supreme Being allow that it be eternal!

To be more precise – imagine that you are dreaming of something awesome and the actual life is way better! With Allan we have this kind of feeling all the time – every morning, every noon, every evening, every moment spent together as well as apart. We never grow tired of complimenting each other, taking care of each other, respecting each other. He is a powerful and dominant leader that I have been waiting for my entire life! He is easy to love, because when a man does what is masculine and a woman is feminine then it has been arranged by nature that everything goes well. He always knows what he is doing, and it is so easy to “just be”. Especially since in my professional life I myself am the manager and maker of decisions. I think I am very straightforward, competent, confident, knowledgeable and dominant and it feels so super mighty that the other half is EVEN MORE competent and dominant. The days to come can just get better! Picture me, with my creativity, and picture him, with his contemplated competence and good leadership. Picture me, with my 25-year global media background and social network, and picture him, with his extensive IT skills and knowledge. The IT sector has not got a single code that he couldn’t write or “break”. Me with my grandiose and endless ideas and he with his wisdom and solutions… We are a fucking super couple! Excusez-moi… my language… It is the adrenaline that keeps rushing when we are together!

One day there was an occasion when we talked about relationships and he said: “I am in such a happy relationship with you.” I will not deny, indeed, it is wonderful to hear that and I feel the same way about him! To be very honest, sometimes I am even slightly embarrassed that everything goes so well and that I am so happy. I don’t wish to boast about my happiness, but neither can I keep it in me. Love gives you wings, to me our love gives the feeling that everything is possible!

Tomorrow it will be a year and a half since we met each other, and while we turned this into a tradition to have a lasagne-and-cake day (read more HERE), then today I made a cake so that it would be readily decorating the breakfast table. This time I came up with a new recipe. For example I added to the cake the delicious Marmiton pistachio halwa. Just for fun I bought two Eesti Loto anniversary lottery tickets (5.- EUR/pc), so that the morning would hold even more tension. Tomorrow Pärnu will await us, the Spa Hotel Viking with its water park and sauna center, and the restaurant. We will spend the night also in the Viking.

So what else?

This week we have been watching tons of TV, more than during the past two years when summed up. Hahaaaa.. I have spent time in bed in abnormal volumes. We binge-watched the South-Korean drama series “Squid Game” that has been available from Netflix since September 17 and which is also the most watched series. Was it brutal? It was! Was it nice! Yes it was nice! But it was not the blood that I liked, it was the many “true-to-life” situations. The wealthy have their own rules, the moral standards are not the same for everyone, and which is more important – at the end of the day we ourselves are directing our lives. Broadly – a gamer will remain a gamer and human nature is prone to greed. You must lead your own life, you must take responsibility for your own actions, make your own decisions, in case you do not wish to be someone else’s puppet. THERE ARE NO shortcuts to getting rich!

We also watched the movie “Road North” by Vesa-Matti Loiri. Also a great one – I recommend it!

Currently we are halfway done with the Japanese-origin, Squid-game-like “Alice in Borderland“. Not very bad, but still nothing extra special.

See the trailers here:

Meow-meow … no going to sleep. Good 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: In Viru Variety Entertainment Hall, enjoying the revue theatrical entertainment Starlight Cabaret night “Creme de la Creme” + BIG GALLERY & VIDEO!
Helena-Reet: For the past two weeks we have actively worked on our home or rather say homes + OTHER STORIES!
Helena-Reet: Taking down the exhibition “Our home witch kitchen” in ERM and DRAWING LOTS who from the visitors won E&S PRODUCTS!
Helena-Reet: The 22nd date – WELL THAT IS ONE FINE day every month!
Helena-Reet: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!

NordenBladet – The previous weekend me and Allan hosted my older sister Marie and her husband Raido at our place. On Monday they travelled to Rohodos and we decided to spend time together before that. Saturday evening the four of us attended the luxurious Viru Hotel’s 50th anniversary season celebrations at the Restaurant Merineitsi. The revue theatre Starlight Cabaret performed a glamorous variety entertainment spectacle “Creme de la Creme”.

We bought our tickets quite late from Piletilevi ticket sales (79.90). I had a major “culture craving” and thus I took tickets to several events. In addition to the cabaret I have tickets to F. Lehar’s operetta “The Count of Luxembourg” and Henrik Normann’s and Brigitte Susanne Hunt’s show “Nuta või naera!” (“Sob or smile!”). In Viru we had booked a table for four right next to the stage. The screenwriter-director-producer Kristjan Kurm had compiled a wonderful five-piece show and during the breaks the chef of Viru restaurant, Margus Tammpere, catered a festive three-course gourmet menu (the ticket included the à la carte dinner extra to the show program). Drinks were of course to be additionally purchased on the spot (for example a 12cl glass of wine 7EUR, a 75cl bottle 39EUR, a 33cl beer 7EUR). The ticket also included a pass to the discotheque Cafe Amigo downstairs from Viru Hotel, we later stepped inside for a second. The last time I visited any discotheque must have been some 20 years ago. Hahaa.. We had two hot-shots there and then took a taxi home (by the way, we arrived with Bolt, but returned with the Russian-origin Yandex). Lately we have been trying out the possibilities of different apps, the service and solutions. Fun!

My menu selection:

As a starter I had the pleasantly creamy Marseille seafood soup (pikeperch, salmon, giant shrimp, Venus clams, blue mussels, squid, gnocchi, tomato confit, white Asparagus, safran-mayonnaise, dill emulsion), the main course was Arctic charr (fillet/ risotto “Pizza Margherita”/ carrot and pea puree/ mushrooms/ crispy quinoa/ yuzu and white chocolate sauce) and the dessert menu was set for everyone. It was Gianduja cremeux with wild strawberry and caramelized nuts. The entire cuisine menu was very good. For drinks we had bubble water and Cava. The sommeliers had pointed out in the menus the recommended wine and beer assortment, yet we preferred sparkling wine. Unfortunately all three bottles that we ordered to our table were inadequately chilled and rather lukewarm – this slightly shaded the otherwise perfect culinary experience of the palate.

And now take a look at all the nice celebration atmosphere with your own eyes!

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

Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: For the past two weeks we have actively worked on our home or rather say homes + OTHER STORIES!
Helena-Reet: Taking down the exhibition “Our home witch kitchen” in ERM and DRAWING LOTS who from the visitors won E&S PRODUCTS!
Helena-Reet: The 22nd date – WELL THAT IS ONE FINE day every month!
Helena-Reet: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!

NordenBladet – Today we had a long sleep – until half past nine. After breakfast (today a toast with cheese, sausage, fresh salad, tomato and basil + coffee and a tiny bit of yesterday’s homemade glorious cookie cake) I went for a walk. It was windy outside and there was no great wish to stay outside for very long, so I cleaned the house a bit and decided that I will take some time for blogging. For the past two weeks we have been working on our home, or more precisely, homes. We have more than one. Soon more about this, but first our breakfast pictures.

Let us start from children. There’s a plan to renovate their rooms (paint the walls white) and change the furniture and lamps. I have grown tired of the pinecone-pattern wallpaper and the old red sofas (see the pictures HERE). Also I’d like to replace some of the curtains and most of the paintings. I have now been painting a lot together with Ivanka and thus prefer to see our own paintings on the walls. Hopefully the renovations will not take more than a few weeks, because I plan to renovate ON MY OWN! This is how awesome a woman I am, hahaaa 😀

Children are in the middle of an active school year. Both of my daughters have been vaccinated with one shot (I wrote more about their vaccinations HERE), and they will now be receiving the second shot on October 30. This year Ivanka Shoshana has an especially busy schedule. Since her school (Tallinn Tondi School) offers from this year a great variety of different hobby groups, then we selected something for her for each day. Now, besides the current extracurricular individual ceramics class (that she already attends for years), she additionally attends swimming classes, horseback riding classes and folk music group, liberating dance class, crafting group and ballroom dance training. This is quite a serious workload. At home I practice mathematics with her – with the help of hands she can already calculate quite well until twenty. It is, however, sad that the dose (Rispolept 1 mg) has had to be doubled. When earlier she received a quarter of the medication and then in March already a quarter in the morning and in the evening (how distance learning affects an autistic child and how our lives are impacted by her puberty, can be read HERE), then today we give half the pill in the morning an half in the evening. First I was quite scared of any kind of medicine, but today my view is that they actually cure and help treat the condition. You need not feel bad when your child has to take medication (to be honest, it still isn’t easy)… yet only natural treatment, a calm environment and good words won’t help… even as much as you so hope.

Estella Elisheva continues to be committed to the violin (this week she had two performances and there will soon be a new big contest) and also to football. I am happy to hear beautiful violin music at home almost every day. Ivanka also likes music and since we have quite many instruments at home (piano, violin, synthesizer, drums, music workstation etc) then she, too, often takes a seat behind the synthesizer, puts on the headphones and mixes some music. How cool is that?

This week Estella applied for the AIS (American Councils for International Education) program to become an exchange student in America. Let’s see how it will turn out. There is great interest towards the program and the competition is intense. For the first round the candidates had to fill in a few applications and submit two essays, each one up to 300 words.

Now about my activities. We have been working in the garden with Allan a lot, and have made plans for renovating the house and the apartment. We purchased two cool tools – Kärcher K 7 PREMIUM SMART CONTROL pressure washer (it cost ca 450.- EUR) and Makita leaf blower (price ca 270.- EUR).

In just a second I will describe the ups and downs of both! First the pressure washer. Indeed, a straight A, really. It is possible to complete so many different types of tasks with this tool – starting from car wash, up to cleaning the roof of the house. We made the old limestone path shine and with playful effortlessness eliminated moss from the stones. Extra to that we also removed the paint from old chairs, etc. This is indeed a multifunctional tool. I recommend it!

Regarding the leaf blower I am slightly more skeptical, yet I must admit that we also didn’t test it for very long (so far). It is more pleasant to use the leaf blower in places that are more difficult to reach with the rake (bushes, flower beds, etc), yet with a big rake it takes just as long or even less time to collect the leaves. The negative side is definitely the battery (18V 6AH Makita battery), that does not last so long. Those who wish to use the leaf blower, make sure to also have the second spare battery at hand. Besides, due to its size, it is a tool for men rather than for women. We have a large garden, and a lot of leaves. Thus there is plenty of work for the rake, for the leaf blower, for children… However, it is super fun to work together! The fresh air and the workout in your own garden is the best! We have also developed our own tricks… For example, we do not use a wheelbarrow (wheelbarrows) to transport the leaves, this effort is all in vain. We rake all the leaves onto a large piece of plastic and then drag it all to the compost pile. This way everything will be clean very quickly!

That’s all for now! I just prepared dinner (boiled sweet potato, minced meat sauce, tomato salad and sweet lettuce with sour cream) and we are about to dine. Soon there will be guests and in the evening we will go to Viru Hotel cabaret night “Creme de la Creme”.

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: Taking down the exhibition “Our home witch kitchen” in ERM and DRAWING LOTS who from the visitors won E&S PRODUCTS!
Helena-Reet: The 22nd date – WELL THAT IS ONE FINE day every month!
Helena-Reet: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!

NordenBladet – It was only so recently that we spent an entire week setting up the all-family exhibition. Last weekend we went to Tartu to uninstall the exhibition that had been up over three months in the Estonian National Museum. From among the visitors that played the E&S herb-puzzle game in ERM’s participation hall, 5 exclusive Elisheva & Shoshana gift packages were given to the lucky winners!

While the setting up of the exhibition required a lot of preparation work, planning, construction and time (it took several people an entire week to set everything up), then taking down the works and packing everything took a lot less time. To set the exhibition up, we drove five times from Tallinn to Tartu in order to transport the paintings, pottery, herbs, and E&S products to ERM, yet it took just one trip to transport the same amount of art back. It surprised me how much stuff one can fit in one car! Iccccc..

Breakfast in the restaurant Tikupoiss (Paiaristi, Imavere village, 72401). Currently my favourite place on Tallinn-Tartu road. The prices are slightly too expensive, yet the dishes are really delicious. Me and Allan, we bought their tasty takeaway poppy rolls, too!

The Estonian National Museum with its versatile and wonderful exhibitions and enormous museum facilities is as well known and popular in Estonia, in the Baltics and in the Scandinavian countries. Presenting one’s artwork in ERM is every artist’s greatest dream! I am among the few lucky ones that can say that this dream has come true! And, which is more, I was so happy when I heard that there was such great interest in our exhibition and that visitor numbers skyrocketed, even despite the global pandemic. It was so good to hear that the hall hosting my exhibition was full of visitors all the time! This also reflected on the submitted lottery leaflets (there were so many of them!) and actually already the opening ceremony where a great part of Estonian cultural elite gathered. And yes, I must mention and announce with great pride — MY EXHIBITION WAS VISITED BY, AND THE OPENING SPEECH WAS PERFORMED BY THE NEWLY ELECTED ESTONIAN PRESIDENT MR. ALAR KARIS!!! How cool is that?! Yes, pinch me! Sooo fancy! So nice!!!! A great compliment to us! MANY THANKS!!!! 🙂

During this summer, ERM also excelled with its fantastic fairy-tale exhibition that was now taken down at the same time with “Our home witch kitchen” and awaits being set up in a new country! ERM’s head of exhibitions, Kristjan Raba revealed that already as many as four countries are currently willing to host the exhibition! WOW!

I have received very many questions from you, a la: I wish to hold my personal exhibition, what should I do for that?, How to arrange an exhibition?, What must one take into account when preparing an exhibition?, Where can one hold an exhibition?, Who can hold a personal exhibition?, Will there be a financial bonus for holding an exhibition or do you need to cover all the costs?, What are the costs that are related to arranging an exhibition?, How much does it cost to hold an exhibition?, Where do you start when you wish to hold a personal exhibition?, Could I, too, hold an exhibition in the Estonian National Museum?, How can I provide media attention to my exhibition? etc, etc.. There have been very many similar questions. I gave a promise to the Estonian National Museum that I will publish on their website (erm.ee) the blog of my exhibition — definitely this will come! I suppose the most rational option would be to do so in a Q&A format. Once it has been accomplished, I will provide you with a link to that text here in my blog, so that you can visit the page to read it! 🙂

Below you can find a few pictures from the exhibition and from the setting up of the exhibition..+ our dinner at ERM’s restaurant Pööripäev (Muuseumi road 2, 61714 Tartu)… and then already about the lottery!!!

Drawing the lots!!! Everyone that visited our exhibition has been able to take part in the exclusive lottery. For that reason we prepared a fun game where you need to find a herb from the table – chamomile, dandelion, primrose, meadowsweet, fireweed, red clover, yarrow, buckthorn and valerian. Among all those that played this game and left their replies in the lottery box, we drew lots and found FIVE WINNERS!

We will deliver a luxurious gift package with Elisheva & Shoshana products to the winners!

The five winners are:

Ronja Kask
Allan Padar
Rain Roball
Kätlin Väär
Lily Laanemäe

Thank you to everyone that participated and congratulations to those of you that won the prize! We will contact you and agree upon where your gift package will be delivered!

And to conclude today’s blog..

I wish to cordially thank the Estonian National Museum. The collaboration with you has been a pleasure, an inspiration and a lot of fun! Thank you so very much for this opportunity! To express my gratitude, I made a gift to the museum, a painting by me – “Cattail, which is not in the picture”. You can read about the painting HERE and HERE. Below, the handing over of the painting to the director of exhibitions at ERM, Kristjan Raba.

THANK YOU! 🙂

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

Recent blog posts:

Helena-Reet: The 22nd date – WELL THAT IS ONE FINE day every month!
Helena-Reet: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!

NordenBladet – The mornings this week have all been super nice – quiet breakfasts (herbal tea or coffee with milk, oatmeal, cottage cheese, boiled beet, salmon, fresh tomato and cucumber, eggs from the neighbouring farm’s freely kept hens and homemade bread) and 1-2 hours or beauty and/or wellbeing time for myself! On Monday a massage of 90 minutes, on Tuesday depilation and eyebrow care, on Wednesday hair care, swimming and SPA. Today once more hair care (more precisely scalp care).

The stress that lasted many years has made the circumstance of my hair very poor, a lot of my hair fell out and it made me very worried. I have taken steps to alleviate the situation of chronic hair loss with a combo of scalp and hair care products developed by my own cosmetics brand Elisheva & Shoshana (Hair Energy Maximus + scalp spray with magnesium and Aloe Deep Detox scalp care shampoo), hair vitamins and D’Arsonvalization aka electric comb care which I do at Saku general practitioners centre.

The week has passed quickly. I have done a lot of work with NordenBladet (translating news stories, optimizing SEO, creating new plugins, building a freshlooking and smartphone-friendly design, setting annual goals and planning how to finetune the page even more). An endless list of to-do lists!

Nowadays it has become fashionable to work from a hotel lounge, a lobby-bar or fancy urban cafes, yet in my case this won’t work. Indeed, a formal meeting or a gathering is convenient to arrange that way, but in order to dive into work I need a proper working environment – an ergonomic desk, silence, privacy and peace, to reach maximum efficiency. A laptop on my knee is not my thing. A different issue is brainstorming – this can be done from anywhere. Our last brainstorming for example was carried out yesterday at a SPA! You’ll open up for quite some fantastic ideas when you tear your mind off the ordinary atmosphere.

Yesterday, September 22th, was our anniversary with Allan, 1 year and 5 months since we met. ❤❤❤ Time really flies!!! We have our own tradition worked out for this occasion – namely every month the 22nd aka “our day” we have a lasagne-and-whipped-cream-cake day! After breakfast Allan took the children to the town to school and continued on with his professional schedule. Ivanka Shoshana had an excursion yesterday as well as a dentist’s appointment, and after that she went to grandma’s and grandpa’s place in Mõigu until Friday. Allan brought me roses, then we went to the SPA to relax and discuss business plans and naturally we dined over my super tasty lasagne and whipped cream cake.

In the evening surprise guests Marie and Raido came from Tartu to Tallinn and stayed at our place (pictures are from this spring when we went to the neighbouring farm to bring eggs from their chicken and where we stroked their darling goats). Uhhh, how I can’t stand such suprises! I plan my time and such unexpected things mess the schedule up for many days. I prepare timelines where I determine the times when I have each thing done, and once I run late with these individual plans, I will feel like a loser. I like goals and striving for them, even when others laugh at my goals, ideas and plans…

And then again, in the case of my sister and her husband we can make an exception. Actually it is always a good time with them, it’s just that they are immensely intensive most of the time 😀 so that after taking free time off duties for them I feel I need a new period of time to rest, but I do not have so much time. What I like is a “calm and stable indulgence”, staying up until early morning is not my thing, at least not quite so often. Actually we did spend the evening peacefully – we talked and watched real estate TV shows from HGTV – Bargain Mansions, My Lottery Dream Home and Flip or Flop Vegas, where my eye caught quite a few great interior design ideas, that made me wish to seriously start renovating and designing myself. PS! These were my first TV shows after almost a year without television.

That’s all for today! 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: Children’s vaccination, visiting the TV tower, at a restaurant in Pirita, fishing for trout in Jõekääru farm in Kuusalu and much more of interest!
Helena-Reet: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!
Helena-Reet: Golden keychain that will open the gates of Heaven; yesterday’s activities in the garden + mega tasty WILD GARLIC SALAD RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Mother’s Day + Month of May activities in the garden

NordenBladet – Monday began in a well-rested spirit and peaceful mode, which means that it promises to be a successful, fine and active week! A lengthy versatile unhurried breakfast – what a luxury and a positive start for the day! I always wake up somewhat earlier and prepare a beautifully set breakfast for Allan and the children. I myself have some coffee and I usually eat a bit later when the family has been sent to school and to work. Allan gets along splendidly with the kids and even though it is not his responsibility, he also often takes them to the town to school.

In the morning the tasks at home were waiting (same old, same old – did the laundry and the dishes, sorted children’s clothes, cleaned the rooms, played with the cat), then 90 minutes of classic massage in a beauty salon in Saku, and then the groceries. After that I worked on NordenBladet. This year there’s a plan, in addition to the translation-plugin (about that I wrote HERE), to create and develop several other NordenBlader applications that are later available for downloading from WordPress! How fun! Besides, there’s a plan to innovate and shape NordenBladet’s theme. Vast majority of our readers use smartphones as their medium. Unbelievable, isn’t it! Unless I knew the statistics, I would suggest the majority reads websites via the computer screen, but no. More and more news will be accessed from cell phones and this means that online media has to be a lot more smartphone-friendly.

After the pictures from breakfast, already about what we did during the weekend and other interesting events meanwhile…

Oooh.. where to begin?! Both children, Estella Elisheva (15y) and Ivanka Shoshana (13y) went to Keila to receive the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. They got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The second shot will be towards the end of October. Did I send them there light-heartedly? Not exactly, however, I rather lean toward the camp that will rely on medicine. Also, I wish we could return to normal lives – travel, freely visit the theatre, restaurants, events, etc. and do so also with children.

We went to the highest viewing platform in the Northern countries – Tallinn TV Tower (Kloostrimetsa road 58 A, 11913 Tallinn) where we enjoyed the 360 degrees panorama and visited the exhibition “Geeniaalne”. It came as a happy surprise that a lot of forest was seen from up there! For some reason I had guessed that we would see a lot of block houses and buildings, and yet, I was luckily wrong! There is a lot of greenery in Tallinn! Super! We also went to St. Patrick’s restaurant in Pirita (Supluse avenue 1). I ordered “Beef tenderloin steak with pepper-cream sauce” (13.90 eur), “Sweet potato fries with sauce” (4.90) and jasmine tea.

A recent highlight has been Allan’s father Rein’s 67th birthday that began with a big and glorious bang last week in Harju county in Jõekääru family holiday centre (Jõekääru farm, Sõitme village, Kuusalu canton, 74601). All the guests got to fish for trout and we spent delightful time in the open air. This weekend there was a family event, Birthday Vol 2, where we enjoyed seafood prepared by Allan’s brother Ardo – snails, shrimp, crawfish, blue mussels, etc. Yummy! A proper gastronome’s gourmet rally and quality time spent with kinsmen! Pictures from Ardo’s cooking skills are also accessible from one of my previous blogs – HERE! Better not look, you will have cravings 🙂 Hahaa…

To my mind, the greatest luxury in life is freedom, and when you have the freedom to plan your time and spend it with your family and friends, then you are the luckiest folks in the world! I wish you many beautiful moments and love! Affection is everything that we need in life!

That would be 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: What has just happened to me?
Helena-Reet: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!
Helena-Reet: Golden keychain that will open the gates of Heaven; yesterday’s activities in the garden + mega tasty WILD GARLIC SALAD RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Mother’s Day + Month of May activities in the garden

NordenBladet – Since the beginning of this week I have been exhausted and unwell.. It just sucks to be ill! I like to be active and it gets on my nerves when time goes by and I am not able to spend it purposefully and efficiently. But you cannot ignore health matters (read: also fatigue) though that’s what I have tried.

On Tuesday when I was taking children to school, I got a feeling of constraint and squeezing in my chest (more or less a pre-myocardial infarction feeling, not that I know the feeling… but anyway…). I stopped the car and called Allan. I told him I felt weird, that it was difficult to breathe and there was a slight wave of panic taking over. After driving the children to school I was about to visit my oral hygiene specialist Marina Sõõru at Unimed Clinic. I am scared of dentists as well as of new strange roads (trajectories that I have not driven before, or places where the parking is not my usual parking routine, these make me stressed and anxious). We had a video call and seeing him calmed me down. He always has the effect of boosting the feelings of safety and serenity. Love can actually cure!!! ❤ Allan to me is just like a sedative pill – he is sizable, strong and smart – in his arms I am safe, his voice is soothing, he always knows what would be best in each situation, he has hands of gold and a sharp mind + he is super calm and concrete, which in my case is a must have!

Luckily I had scheduled the time with no hurry and managed to park the car normally and made it on time. Oral care cost 70 euros (it included mechanical cleaning of teeth, removal of calculus and also pearl wash). This done, I went to Järve Selver. I, a devoted housewife, found there from Apollo bookstore two really cool and inspiring cookbooks – Lia Virkus’s “Minu parimad” (31.95) and Ragne Värk’s “Koogid – lihtsad ja küpsetamata” (21.90). I thumbed them through in the store and thought to myself that I cannot wait until I can try all these fine recipes at home when cooking for my family! Indeed, both contain lots of exciting and inviting recipes! Yummm***

After that I drove back home to prepare dinner. I made some calming chamomile tea and fresh sweet sour cream lettuce salad, some spicy potato porridge and breaded Viennese schnitzel with cheese and then headed to a beauty salon at Saku centre to have my lashes and nails done. Yet in the salon I once again started feeling unwell – only with great effort could I endure the time of my beauty procedures and once back at home I went straight to bed. I had chest pain from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. and I also had a temperature of 37.1 degrees Celsius. I still haven’t figured out what it was. May a panic attack last that long? What had happened to me? I do not know. Also the next day the weakness persisted, only today evening I started feeling better. I had no symptoms of Covid-19, and also I have received two shots of AstraZeneca corona vaccine.

Allan brought me flowers again… for no special reason. It makes me so happy! To my mind, when men show regard for their woman and are attentive, this is super masculine and nice! Extra sweet! I was so happy! I do not know what it is, perhaps I am just head over heels in love or perhaps he just is the world’s coolest man! We are such a perfect match – we have the same visions, opinions, feelings, tastes, dreams, reality etc… He is masculine, I am feminine, he is dominant, I find a strong and leading male attractive. Today I am feeling a bit better and immediately I sprang into action! I cleaned and sorted stuff at home, created news content for NordenBladet, cooked a great supper (curry chicken, sparkling healthy fresh sweet pepper and pesto salad, and along with it some couscous). In the evening we did some gardening work together.

Garden is great! Nature is mighty! Gardening work is cool! We both like to be in nature and we like progress. It is nice to watch getting things done with our own hands! We cut a section of the spruce hedge (we have several hedges, since the territory is large) and also we cut back and beautifully modified various decorative bushes. This time we already had even better tools for that!!! I am writing HERE how and when we have lately cut the spruce hedge, yet now we have bought an even better tool and honestly – it is a miracle! There’s a big difference in what the means are that you can use for working. Professional working tools make life a lot easier and the result is more beautiful! Allan did the cutting and I did the carrying! It is so sweet that we work together that way! Super fun!

Have a nice evening! 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: Our life in the countryside aka the Kardashians in Estonian style.. or whatever + Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!
Helena-Reet: Golden keychain that will open the gates of Heaven; yesterday’s activities in the garden + mega tasty WILD GARLIC SALAD RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Mother’s Day + Month of May activities in the garden

NordenBladet – The heading of this blog might as well be “Gardening collective work aka How to take the most out of life” or “A weekend full of work and celebrations” or anything else. I am writing about how my elder sister Marie and her husband Raido came to visit us and how we all did a lot of garden work and at the same time spent several days of quality time full of jokes and laughter, karaoke and tasty homemade meals.

Rule number #1 for a good mood – Nice homemade food that has been beautifully served! + do not underestimate flowers on the table! Little details are those that count!
In our family homemade meals are highly valued. I spend many hours in the kitchen to offer our family the daily tasty, healthy and delightful dishes. We also always welcome our guests with fine meals. For many years, when the children were still small and I was still building my businesses and media portals, I used to have a home assistant-cook, yet today I do everything by myself. I enjoy this and it is the ultimate luxury!!! The free time, or more precisely the time and lifestyle that you can plan on your own, is a great luxury that only few can enjoy. The time that has been spent with family and the people close to you, is always time well spent, since at the end of the day it is the impressions and common memories that count. Besides, I as a non-feminist believe that women could spend more time at home (this doesn’t mean that women shouldn’t-couldn’t-wouldn’t also choose career). Sometimes it seems to me that feminine, gentle and caring women have become as extinct today as a rough-masculine-strong smart man with hands of gold. At least… I found one!!! I can not be happier! 😛

So… let us begin with food! First of all, a really extra good recipe that will surely make your day and the same goes for your partner, children, and all your guests, leaving everyone chanting: Love is lit by good food! 🙂 Hahahaaaa…

Recipe: Asian spicy beef strips in hot dressing

You will need: 800g beef strips, bold handful of fresh green onion leaves, ca 10-14 garlic cloves, ca 60g grated ginger and 2 jars of Santa Maria “Teriyaki sauce” dressing.

Fry grated garlic and grated or chopped ginger in small amount of oil and butter on frying pan ca three minutes, then add beef strips to pan and again fry ca 3 minutes. Then pour to pan 2 jars of Teriyaki sauce (one jar is 300ml/360g) and fry another 3-5 minutes. When sauce is ready, add chopped green onion. Serve with rice, potatoes, or salad. You will get ca six portions from these ingredients.

Rule number #2 for a good mood – Good music!
–and better make it loud! Hahaaa… I listen to all kinds of music, yet this summer’s favourites have definitely been different mixes. YouTube Search will provide – Psycho Trance (Psychedelic trance), Monstercat, “Best of EDM” (Electro House & Festival music), Ambient Chillout and “We love the 90s” and it is great to listen to those via the phone app from a large speaker. Also I like more and more Estonian music, since we also spend a lot of time with Marie and Raido, and Raido is simply the best karaoke singer in the country. Really!!! The way he can imitate Estonian bands is just super nice and awesome! It is a pity that this is his hobby and not his actual job. This however makes me even more happy that I am privileged to enjoy this free and often! In the summer we bought JBL Partybox 310 and a microphone, but believe me, soon you will realize that even this is not loud enough, and yet it takes just half of the volume to make your neighbour angry 😀 Thus… our thanks go to our peaceful neighbours who also enjoy life and who haven’t yet come knocking on our door, and yet, a new note to my to-do list: find an even more private plot where you need never worry what the neighbour thinks! My dream is to live somewhere where I own ca 10-20 ha land (there might be more land for the businesses but what I mean is for the home), where I have privacy such that the closest neighbour is far enough and night-time silence requirements don’t bother anybody. OMG! I love to dream! I so much love to dream and plan my future. Owning such a plot not only requires a lot of money but also a lot of time, freedom and passive income – when you have two children that need schooling and chauffeuring to several hobby groups, then it remains just a sweet dream! 🙂 I so much love children, but children eat up all your time and opportunities that it almost scares me.

CHILDREN ARE DEFINITELY AMONG THE GREATEST DELIGHTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN OUR LIVES… BUT WITHOUT DOUBT ALSO THE GREATEST LUXURY AND EXPENSE WE CAN EVER AFFORD! WORD!

We offer to ourselves moments full of music, loud music, allowing us to dream and to forget and are only for us! Only for us! We, grown people, need this!

Rule number #3 for a good mood – time spent together – working together!
Do we let the spruce hedge grow out or do we trim it? I pondered for quite some time. Since our spruce hedge was not taken care of for years, I thought maybe we should let the trees grow out (let them grow tall), but still we decided that we trim them. Also we decided that we make our life easier and take out the plantation of buckthorn that has been growing well as weed, and also some old trees. We had ca 100+ full-grown buckthorn bushes, in a way that was a decent plantation, yet buckthorn spreads as well as the lilac… eventually any nearby spot of ground will be covered by it. We took out the entire buckthorn plantation + many big old trees. Right near the gate there were two old elm trees, both suffering from some kind of disease, these, too, were taken out. Thus, this year several trees were cut down and the roots were also taken out. Taking the roots out is a rather complicated issue. It is easier with the smaller trees, but we had quite a hard time with the bigger trees.. we even tried to get them out with a vehicle (see the video!).. hahaa. Finally a fire helped out…

Which tools should one use?? From ancient times we had a Metabo saw with cord, and also a Makita saw from recent times with a battery. It is definitely more convenient to use tools that have a battery. With the Makita saw the larger outstanding branches from the spruce hedge were cut off and Raido did the hedge walls and upper part of the hedge with the Metabo saw. The cord made the working process more difficult. It is comfortable to work with tools with no cord.

In the evening we burned the branches, played the darts and ate homemade pizza and my world’s best whipped cream cake! Life is amazing when you have such good friends! My sisters are super cool! And Allan, I love you so much! 🙂

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

Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: 4 birthdays (BIG GALLERY!)
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!
Helena-Reet: Golden keychain that will open the gates of Heaven; yesterday’s activities in the garden + mega tasty WILD GARLIC SALAD RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Mother’s Day + Month of May activities in the garden

NordenBladet – Summer has been diverse, a lot of anguish has visited me, yet also piles of great events have come my way (the exhibition in ERM, buyout of the house, garden design, renovation, road trips, etc). The separation that stretched over several years, advocates, court-going, evaluations of real estate and dividing the property are finally done and it can be said that communication between me and my ex-partner and father of my children is currently rather normal.

Divorce is never “a pleasant event” and once you’ve lived with someone half of your lifetime it is only natural that the soul will ache for a long time, that tears will force their way out now and then and the heart feels heavy. Even when you already turned a new page in your life. Even when you found your kin spirit and feel deep honour and love toward someone else. However, in today’s blog let’s pause to talk about birthdays, lately there have been several of them! More specifically rightaway!

#1 End of July – Allan’s birthday in Taagepera castle
After our congratulations at home, I sent the children to Mõigu to their grandma-grandpa and we started off to South-Estonia with Allan for two days, so that we could celebrate Allan’s 36th birthday there. A beautiful present from Allan’s parents! We had planned a day in Taagepera Wagenküll SPA, an evening in Wagenküll restaurant, and a night in a magnificent historic palace. Gosh how I like the interior as well as the facade of Taagepera castle! This is so me! The SPA, founded on the spot lately, is also very nice, I recommend it!

(blog continues after the gallery)

Next day we drove on to Tartu. First we went to Lange motocenter to race (well, to be more precice, men were racing and we cheered them) and then we went to Estonian National Museum where I gave an interview about my art exhibition for the news program Aktuaalne Kaamera (see HERE) and for Kuku Radio (listen HERE) and then had another very proud look at our exhibition and admired the Elisheva & Shoshana products that are also available at ERM store! In the evening we headed to Kiidjärve to watch a theatrical performance named Vana klaver – Old piano.

#2 Beginning of August – Allan’s mother’s birthday in Tallinn at Elamusgolf centre
Allan’s mother celebrated her current birthday in Elamusgolf centre located underneath Vabaduse square. It’s a clever place for holding a birthday party when you also look for good entertainment for children. There are really nice minigolf tracks, discgolf, and on the spot you can also order pizza, main courses and snacks. Several hours of exciting leisure time guaranteed!

#3 Estonian Independence Day and my birthday on 20 August
My sign is also Leo like the signs of previous two birthday-people! Yay! 🙂 Still, I like to throw a party any other day than my own birthday, thus I haven’t celebrated my birthday in years… however, the joy still fills my heart when someone remembers me on a special day! In the morning Estella played the violin, Allan downright showered me with flowers – he had bought cut flowers, flowerpots, for the garden an entire flowerbed, and also cultivated blueberries! So lovely! When I looked out the window, on the table there were waiting some more flowers, shampagne and a cake from Allan’s brother’s family! At dinner time my parents came to see me, they always come even when the party hasn’t been announced… hahaa. Since I was born on 20 August, all of Estonia is celebrating with me!

#4 End of August – surprise-party for dad
We planned to celebrate father’s 78th birthday in Murimäe, in our garden, yet the summer that had lasted quite long had just ended a week earlier, thus ruining our plans. Therefore we made a last minute decision and invited the guests to my elder sister Marie’s place in Tartu. The birthday was held among the nearest and dearest, it was cozy – we went to sauna, outdoor hot tub, the pool, played cards and had a feast of good food prepared by ourselves.

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

Recent blog posts:
Helena-Reet: Third tick-vaccine and plans for today
Helena-Reet: A visit to ERM in Tartu, men shaved their heads + confession: Yes, I have a new man!
Helena-Reet: Village’s Midsummer Night bonfire, second corona vaccine, and an enjoyable Saturday evening in Keila at Legends Diner restaurant + PHOTOS!
Helena-Reet: Helena-Reet: About whey protein and the peaceful beginning of the day, about the new lawn tractor, the tableware set “Ivanka”, and some more about this day…
Helena-Reet: Summertime!!! Our weekend + BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: Hygge morning, a bit of advertising for our E&S hit product, badminton and today as seen through a BIG GALLERY!
Helena-Reet: The garden-inspired painting “Childhood”, yet another consumer game, a present that has to be bought out, enjoyable RMK recreational areas and top event of the week! + BIG GALLERY OF EVERYTHING!
Helena-Reet: Elisheva & Shoshana business negotiations with Kaup24, periodicals orders and consumer games
Helena-Reet: Ivanka Shoshana’s birthday VOL2, my concerns, new Arborvitae hedge + exciting guests
Helena-Reet: Children’s birthday – menu, outfit and gallery!
Helena-Reet: Liberty to plan my own time is a luxury that I love above all!
Helena-Reet: Golden keychain that will open the gates of Heaven; yesterday’s activities in the garden + mega tasty WILD GARLIC SALAD RECIPE!
Helena-Reet: Mother’s Day + Month of May activities in the garden