Another month

I can't believe that we've already seen 8 months of this year and September is already here. Where has the time time gone? At the moment, work is what's on my mind. Month-end reporting is finally done at work and so now it is back to our regular daily processes.

I'm an Accounts Receivable (AR) specialist (aka bean counter or bookkeeper) for the UK and North American team in a big international company. The most important part of my work is processing our customer's payments that come to us. But there is many other tasks that we do on a daily basis and a few extra during month- and quarter-end closing.

I never thought I'd be working for such a huge company, but here I am. I've been working here for a year and a half now. I still love my job and what I do. My co-workers and boss are a cool bunch, which makes my job that much more enjoyable. In our team alone, we've got a Scot, another American and 2 Finns.

What makes me even more happy about my job, is that it feels like a real job. It isn't like most of my previous jobs (here in Finland), where I have a contract for a stated period of time or that I feel and know that the job is just a stepping stone until I find something better and more permanent. This is something that I can see myself doing for many years and I know there is possibilities for growth and continual learning.

I think I might be finally growing up.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

I've made this cake many times and it is so easy and quite yummy for the amount of time it takes to make it!

1 Coffee 'large' mug
4 tablespoons plain flour (not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

1. Add dry ingredients to mug, & mix well.
2. Add egg & mix thoroughly.
3. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
4. Add chocolate chips (if using), van, mix again.
5. Put mug in the microwave & cook for 2-3 min at 1000 watts.
6. Cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! (it really did! LOL!)
7. Allow to cool a little & tip out onto a plate if desired.
8. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

In with the new

Happy 2009 to everyone!
I hope your christmas and new years was pleasant. Mine were both decent.

Santa brought me Breaking Dawn, the 4th book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Thank you Santa, I was desperately waiting for it. (It has been read already and I will most likely read it again someday soonish.)

I ate plenty of ham (kinkku), carrot casserole (porkkanalaatikko), rutabega casserole (lanttulaatikko), liver casserole (maksalaatikko) and rosolli salad (cubed bits of cooked carrot, pickle, egg, pickled beets, with pink sauce aka whipped cream with a touch of beet juice). I also ate tons of sweets and nuts with a bit of fruit thrown in.

I enjoyed my time with my mother-in-law. On Saturday when stores were open for the first time, we went christmas fabric shopping. We were on a mission! LOL. With the fabric we bought, we started making cloth bags to put next year's christmas gifts in. After 2 broken sewing machines, we decided to spare the 3rd and will continue making the bags at a later date.
(Will post pictures of some of the bags we did make soon.)

New Years saw me and my husband at a friends house for the evening. It was intended that there was quite a few of us, but in the end there was only 4 of us, but quality more than makes up for quantity.
We made tacos, played RockBand, sang some karaoke and chatted. We also melted some tin horseshoes and dumped them in a bucket of water. Then we looked at the shadows the cooled lumps made and tried to divine our future for the coming year.
(All I could see were sperms and an egg in my pieces or maybe they were claws... either way hubby wasn't too impressed. LOL)

We didn't make it home until 4 am!! All around it was a good evening and a great way to end 2008. I look forward to what 2009 will bring.