Mama's Coffee Corner

Left but not forgotten

2009-04-20T16:33:00.002-03:00

Ooops, time flew and how did I miss almost 4 months???

I have been working on so many projects lately that there has been little to no time for blogging. But don't worry, I'll be back soon! Some of you have asked where I've been and I appreciate that. I'm here, just very busy!

RS Designs has retired and is now Berries and Cream Blog Design. If you need a blog design, we can surely help with that! lol

Choriço has started school and all is fine, there were a few initial hick-ups but they have been sorted out and I'm glad he is at a good school learning lots and making good friends. Today we had to go the the doctor becasue he's got sinuses, poor little guy. Well with some medication he will soon be alright again.

A little update on how we are doing here in Brazil, I'll be back again soon. :)

Hey 2009

2009-01-22T16:46:00.003-03:00

Hey 2009, are you here already?

Time flies and it's been over a month since I wrote anything. A horrible thought seeing I love blogging. It's just that I've been pretty busy with everything and my personal blogs have had to step aside and make room for design projects and other thing. Trying to prioritize everything has been difficult and I hope that will change soon.

I hope I will get more time or rather becoming better at organizing my time. Well right now I have to get back to work and try to finish off a few things that have been left behind way too long.

Welcome 2009! I hope the year has started out well for you! :)

A childs prayer

2008-12-10T16:00:00.004-03:00

Monday was an oh so difficult day. It was a horrible day really. It all started in the morning when I was dropping off Choriço at nursery. I was paying our monthly contribution when the nursery director casually says; "so did you go and enroll Choriço at school?"My jaw dropped and I said -"what???

A few weeks ago Choriço was at home with pinkeye. During that week they sent messages to the parents and posted a big note outside the nursery that it was the week to enroll the kids to school. Only that they forgot to tell me. So I had no idea I even needed to do that as we had already sent in some paperwork through the nursery. I went to the school who said there were no vacancies left. in the afternoon I went to the nursery and told the director I wanted her to call the school as I consider it to be her fault for not telling me. We started discussing and it ended up with me crying all the way home.

A friend of mine knows the director of another sh cool and sent me there. Only that the school is about twenty minutes away and it was hot. Really hot and I had Choriço with me. Well we went and they said there is a chance he can get a place there. When we came home again after stressing back and forth we were dirty with red feet and warm. I immediately opened the fridge to cool myself with some coke while Choriço went straight inside.

As I stand there drinking my coke I hear some mumbling from the living room. As I peek inside the living room I see Choriço kneeled down by the sofa praying. I could hear him saying something about helping me and about school and so on. Just then the phone rang so he stopped praying.

But this is something I will never forget. I had not said anything to him about praying nor had we talked about Jesus. This was a totally spontaneous prayer. And I am glad becasue this is the way I want my son to go.

The prayer of a child is one of the most beautiful prayers I think. So sweet and innocent.

As for the school we'll just have to see what happens. It's in God's hands really.

The nursery my son attends is in help and unless they raise money to pay the bills they will have to close! I have opened a charity event which I urge you to participate in. Please let me help the nursery to continue to help the families in need! I cannot do this without your help! Please visit VA Charity to find out more. Thank you!!

Why I love Woody Woodpecker

2008-11-12T13:01:00.002-03:00

This post could probably be called " I am a lousy mom because I let my kid sit in front of the TV"

This week is quite stressful for me and I have lots of things going on, just this week little Choriço gets a Pinkeye. Just my luck. Took him to the Dr on Monday and he will be home the whole week. Well really I'm not sure it is pinkeye. His eyes seem to be all fine actually. Well it is better to be safe than sorry so I am keeping him at home this week for observation.

While I work Woody is occupying him. Thank God for Woody. Makes my work a whole lot easier.

Do I feel bad? Yes a little. But on the other hand I am trying to work to provide for my family so I don't feel really bad.

Just comes to show it is always good to be on top of things and be prepared for the unexpected.

No more annoying phone calls

2008-11-10T16:48:00.000-03:00

Most of us strongly dislike annoying phone calls from insistent call operators that try and make us buy something even though we kindly say "no thank you" a couple of hundred times. Some vendors just don't get it. You do have to give them credit for their persistence.

Well if you want to report a number you can go to Phone Number Reporting and tell them what you think there. Perhaps someone else is of the same opinion.

During the last election here in Brazil we got quite a few phone calls, my standard reply: "I'm not Brazilian so I don't vote" Worked every time. lol Basically you just need to know the magic words and they will resist. Then there are those who are persistent...

Nothing like a good book to cheer up a sad mom

2008-10-22T14:12:00.002-03:00

These last few days I've been incredibly cranky, sad and angry. Actually it's been more like frustrated than angry.

Well yesterday I had nothing special to do at night. My husbands uncle is visiting so he and my DH were talking and watching the news, Choriço were playing on the computer and I tried to read the Bible but couldn't concentrate with all the noise. That's when I remembered I had a book lying around that I've been meaning to read for some time now, I found the book and went in to the bedroom to read it.

I started laughing on the first page I think, I was giggling so much that my husband had to go check on me as he couldn't understand what was so incredibly funny. I told him one of the parts, not sure if he found it funny really, and then I continued. It was a short book so I finished it this morning, still laughing.

It was so relieving! After all the tension I've felt these last few days it just released my hormones a bit and helped me see that everything isn't so bad. It was just what I needed. I love reading so for me reading is an excellent way to relax. So for me there is nothing like a good book to cheer me up! lol

How do you relax when you are stressed or sad?

Mama goes shopping

2008-10-21T10:04:00.004-03:00

For moms who are looking for baby stuff there is a great place that helps you find exactly what you want: the Baby and Toddler place at Shopwiki.com

it is really easy to find gorgeous thing there, simple log into their baby and toddler site and tell them what you are looking for. If you are looking for ways to activate your child and make sure he/she have fun and learn at the same time you can read a guide before you buy on what to think about when buying activity centers for babies. It will tell you exactly what it is, what it consist of and where to get it.

Buying quality things for your baby is extremely important and not something that should be overlooked because of financial hindrance. That is why many of the guides give you all the information you need as well as information on where to find the best buy within your budget. As an example you can look at the toddler clothing buying guide. You will see several choices of what kind of clothes to buy, you click on what you are looking for and the next page will give you the option of setting the price. that way you will not have to look all over the net to find clothes for your toddler that fits your budget. It makes shopping online so much easier!!

And for those not looking for baby stuff but loves to shop online, Shopwiki is huge! You can surely find what you are looking for there!

Someone give me ice cream!

2008-10-14T16:24:00.002-03:00

Image via WikipediaI would love it if someone came with ice cream right now. It is incredibly hot here! And extremely humid to top it off. It surely wouldn't be bad if it started to rain soon.

So today is a perfect ice cream day, but as I haven't got any money at home I will just have to skip that part... Right now I have to go and pick up Choriço from nursery, it's not very far but it is uphil on the way back. phuuuuuuuu.... I'm not looking forward to it.

Well, a mommy gotta to what a mommy gotta do.. better get going...

The Mouse trap

2008-10-08T16:49:00.002-03:00

I think I will be a bit more careful with what I pu into the washing machine after this accident. The other day I was washing clothes and saw that there were some strange dirt on the sheets. I thought it was quite odd, after all I was washing the sheets. I continued to hang the clothes and sheets to dry and what did I find? A dead mouse!

The poor little thing, no I don't really feel bad for him/her, was squashed to the side and had probably been alive before the washing cycle began. Iiiiihh. I like to think of myself as this calm person who isn't too squemish but unfortunaltely I'd be lying so I won't say anything. But I almost screamed out loud.

Of course I had to remove all clothes, fill the machine with detergent, washing powder and all other sorts of cleaning products and put on a washing cycle before I could wash the clothes again...So from now on I'll be extra careful when I wash so that I don't add things that shouldn't be there.

Forgetful Mom

2008-10-01T14:18:00.002-03:00

Once in a while we hear these horror stories about how parents forget their kids in the car or at strange places etc. We shake our heads and say "oh that is irresponsible- I would never do that".

You know what, I won't say so, an accident can easily happen due to different circumstances but in this case I am referring to my horrible memory. I am absolutely a forgetful mom, I forget everything! *For those of you who are yet not a parent- prepare yourself the "Mommy forgetfulness" comes after the baby is born.*

My memory deteriorated significantly after I became a mom, I've always been a little forgetful but not like this. Let me give you an example; This morning I put on a washing load at 8am, after midday I remember it! It does not take 4+ hours for the washing machine cycle to go round. Which makes me think that I could easily be one of these moms who forget her child in the car*God forbid* or something else. Sometimes I slip into the internet world and forget about the rest. All of a sudden I wake up and think to myself "oh what was I doing again?" To juggle being a mom/wife/biz owner is already hard - with a bad memory it gets even harder.

And it is not only due to the Internet, it happens when I'm not online either... a lot....

Well they say it is good to stimulate your brain early so that you won't get forgetful when you get older... I better start practicing that...

Modern furniture meets practical

2008-09-29T16:33:00.002-03:00

"Modern furniture meets practical" that's what hit me when I looked at eroomservice.com and their furniture. Some of these furniture's are amazingly creative! Looking for an online shop where you can buy beautiful Italian furniture? Eroomservice offers just that!They can help you find the right storage and shelving or find the perfect match for the new nursery and much more.

Their modern furniture are just right, the various styles are impressing and makes me wish I could buy some furniture right now. I like the colors and the different shapes they offer. I like to look at contemporary furniture and try to match it with modern design. Some interior designers are great at mixing and matching old and new styles.

If you are having problems deciding on what style to go for then look through their online catalog and if you still cannot find the answer send them an email.

As we all know buying furniture can involve a lot of walking and aching feet, now with online shopping there is no need for that any longer. Today we just search for what we want and click a few times and it comes to our door. Wonderful! If you are looking for designer furniture, go visit eroomservice.com and indulge in beautiful design.

Like father like son

2008-09-29T13:38:00.004-03:00

The other day I gave my husband a back massage as he was complaining his back was hurting. Little Choriço observed it of course and wasn't late to start claiming his massage as well.

Yesterday he started saying to me "Mom, give me massage, my back is hurting". I kind of tried to ignore it but that didn't work very well. Looking at him he was already lying down on the sofa flat on his stomach.

Heading over to ease his imaginable back pain he says to me;
"You need to use some of that lotion as well" Pointing at the lotion I had used for his dad.
"Aha, OK" Laughing to myself thinking "he is just like his dad"

Well the massage lasted about two minutes and then I said it was enough because I honestly did not have time for massaging that very moment. I think it was pretty sweet what he did and I have always thought that massage is a good way to bond with your child. I have tried to massage Choriço a few times but he has never liked it, perhaps now he has changed :) It's a great way to help your child relax and open up and something that can help heal a damage bond between kids and parents.

Now if I could only get them to give me massage... that isn't likely to happen unfortunately...

A Mama needs relaxin'!

2008-09-29T12:35:00.002-03:00

I have a wish that I've had for some time now, a wish that I surely am not alone to have. I wish I could get away to a spa for the day to use a bath tub. That would be wonderful! Just to get away for a little while and take care of myself.

In Sweden almost all houses have bathtubs, here in Brazil that is an absolute luxury to have. And as with all things you don't miss it when you have it but once it becomes a rare thing you appreciate it a whole lot more. And it's the same thing with bathtubs, I miss it so much! I'd love to have a bathtub here. Looking at Simply Bathtubs they have gorgeous clawfoot bathtubs which I think would be perfect in a new bathroom. They have affordable discount whirlpool tubs for all sizes and pockets.

To make sure your bathtub fit with your house and your style there are several styles to choose from; you may want a corner tub, a modern tub, antique or acrylic tub, choose what model and size fits you best. Installing a bathtub needn't be that costly actually, looking at the prices there are bathtubs for under $800 which I would say is a great investment. The more expensive ones goes up over $7000 and more ensuring an even more luxurious bath. The bigger the size and the more customizations the more it will cost you.

Walk in bath tubs are a good choice as you get older as you can sit up in them. With only a small door to open there will be no more climbing and risk of falling. The smart thing with Simply Bathtubs is that you can buy through their site so you won't have to go shopping for a tub but can choose directly from the site. Giving you more time to enjoy your bathtub.

If you are not sure you really need a bathtub then think again, imagine how great it will feel to slip in after a long day at work and just enjoy the heat and let your muscles soften. That is what I miss as it is something I used to do after a day of hard work at the stables. And I think every mom needs some relaxin' once in a while so it would be perfect to liven up a tired mom.

Really, everyone should have a bath tub, but until then I guess the shower will have to do...

Grieving a loss that never was

2008-09-25T12:53:00.003-03:00

Image by Grant MacDonald via FlickrLast week was tough. I didn't think it would be all that tough but after a few days it was and it was hard not to cry. The feelings of emptiness and loss came when I was by my self and that 's when my tears would make me break down and cry.

It feels as if I was /am grieving something that never was, because there was no "real" baby yet. Still I felt life inside of me and now I don't feel anything. Nothing, only an empty feeling inside. I was so sure this would be a little girl, I was completely sure. Now I could get pregnant and it could be either because I don't feel anything. It's a strange feeling. All of a sudden I feel just like normal but in between something happened and it wasn't as it used to be.

The only thing that kept me calm and that has helped me immensely is my faith. Without my faith I would probably be crying a whole lot more and asking why? Now I know that God has a plan for my life and that His plans are not the same as ours. I ask God to reveal to me the purpose of this suffering but I might never know and it is still OK.

The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

I read this verse several times a day and even have it up on my fridge. This is what gives me strength in times of trouble and I give thanks everyday.

Everything will be OK but healing takes time.

Understandign God's ways

2008-09-16T11:21:00.002-03:00

Hardly had I written the wonderful news when soemthing happened. To make a long story short we are no longer expecting a baby. I've spend two nights at the hospital and still need to go back on Friday.

I am glad I know God is standing with me in all this and helping me deal with the pain. I know there is a reason for this happening but we can never fully understand God's ways. The only thing we can do is Trust. God has shown us how much we want a baby and we will try again soon.

I will take a few days off to recover.

Ask and you shall receive - Wonderful news

2008-09-13T08:58:00.002-03:00

For some time now I have been praying that God would bless us with a little baby. The time never seem to be right and I have seriously doubted that I would ever become a mother again. Choriço will turn five in December and if I had been in charge we would already have had another little one about two years ago.

But it wasn't up to me and I decided to leave it in His hands. He knows when the time is right and even though we didn't think the time was right apparently it is now. Because we are having a baby!

And let me tell you ladies, I knew the very moment I became pregnant. But of course I forgot to write it down so I don't remember. Last week we got it confirmed and I am already 8 weeks along. I am feeling great except for a little heartburn and the fact that I get very tired in the afternoon. Around 7.30 I am ready for the night.

Yes, I have been worried that something would go wrong or that something will happen but I trust in God so I will let Him take care of me and the baby. The only thing I can do is take care of myself and my family to make sure we are fine and that I don't do anything that is not good for us.

I can hardly believe it myself but I am getting bigger and bigger, right now I probably look a bit chubby around the belly but soon it will be different. I look forward to go through all the different stages and can't wait until the baby is here!

Rain and thunder

2008-09-12T17:45:00.002-03:00

Today at 2pm the sky was dark, dark. The sun had completely disappeared and the wind had taken over. And now at night it is raining and it is quite cold outside.

South Brazil was taken by a surprise yesterday when a hurricane came in, something very rare in Brazil and no one was prepared. Houses were destroyed and everything looked upside down. I felt bad for those who had their houses destroyed and I just pray we won't get any of that. I'm honestly not sure how my house would deal with something like that.

A small thunder is threatening to start here but so far nothing, the only thing is the constant rain. Which was expected, yesterday was extremely hot and humid.

Right now I am making a nice stew for us to enjoy in this cold weather, with that rice will be served and beans, a tomato salad, broccoli and garlic bread. Almost a feast :)

What's for dinner at yours?

A good night's sleep

2008-09-11T11:40:00.002-03:00

Lately I have become incredibly tired and go to bed quite early. Thankfully we have a very comfortable bed. Buying the bed was actually one of the biggest problems we faced when buying furniture for our house.

First we couldn't decide on what bed we liked, looking at several beds in several stores we finally decided on one. Then came the next problem; the mattress. Here soft mattresses are hard to find and I wanted a soft mattress. My husband wanted one of the hardest ones so we had some difficulties deciding there but settled for one that was in the middle. Well 4 years later the mattress is in a good shape and I now think it was good we settled for a harder mattress, it is better for the back.

We decided to goo for a wooden bed without too many details and I'm glad we did because it is simple but very nice. Bedroom World has some wonderful beds and I really wish I could've bought my bed from there. Their selection of beds is impressive. All stores here have more or less the same selection of beds I think, that's why I like it when you can look at online stores and see their beds (and other things of course).

Talking about beds, I really have to go and make the bed, that is the tiresome part...

Nutricious and delicious fruit salads

2008-09-11T10:36:00.003-03:00

I love fruit salads, not only are they delicious, they are nutritious as well. My favorite fruit salads contain apples, oranges and bananas. When strawberries are around they are a must as well. At the moment the strawberries are at a very good price so I try to eat as much as I can.

Some say that fruit salads are quite boring but there are several ways you can make a fruit salad a bit more "fun" and even more nutritious. I usually add sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds to my salads, vegetable or fruit salads.

Something else to add can be a simple fruit sauce. Mash some strawberries with water and add to the fruit salad or make a lemon sauce. This lemon sauce is absolutely delicious and can be eaten on its own...

Lemon sauce:
1 lemon
single cream
condensed milk

Squeeze out the lemon juice and add as much cream and condensed milk until you get the perfect mixture, depends on taste. Whisk until smooth.

This sauce can be slightly addictive if you happen to like any of the above ingredients. Consider yourself warned. lol

A safe home

2008-09-09T15:43:00.003-03:00

Brazil is not a peaceful country if you look at the amount of violence shown on TV everyday. When I first got here it amazed me that everyone has a gate in front of their home. Then it scared me when someone didn't and I found myself thinking "How can they not have a gate in front of their home? Aren't they afraid?"

Home security is something so incredibly important no matter where you live. Making sure that you can sleep peacefully at night and that your family is safe is the best thing. Now I don't live on a violent street thankfully but yes there are violence close by. Every night we make sure we have closed the gate and that the door is locked. I worry that someone will jump over our gate even though it is almost 2 meters high. I worry that someone will try to poison our dogs just as other dogs on our street have been.

There are different security systems you can use and many do use them which is a very smart move in my opinion. Here many houses use a motorcycle guard that comes by every hour or so during the night. What we have been talking about is setting up some extra lamps to make sure we can see properly outside when it is dark. Our dogs are very good guards so we can tell if there is someone outside or if it is just a dog passing.

I think that when you have a family you worry more about these things than if you are single. When you have a family you have responsibility over someone else, and kids rely totally on you to take care of them. Small kids haven't got a clue when it comes to security normally. Mine sure doesn't.

If you don't already use on of the many available home security systems out there today then I really suggest you look into it, there is nothing better than making sure your family can rest peacefully at night or when away aon holiday.

Family dinners

2008-09-09T14:57:00.002-03:00

I was raised with the whole family siting around the table eating dinner at the same time. If someone finished they waited until the last person had finished as well. Well in my own family it doesn't really work that way unfortunately.

DH has this thing of leaving the table before me and Choriço have finished and Choriço take ages to get to the table to sit down to eat. It doesn't matter how much we tell him, some days it is impossible to get him to sit at the table. Now DH has understood I prefer it when we all have dinner together and usually stays. But as someone who grew up eating in front of the TV I understand he deosn't see the point as clearly as I do.

I do think that table manners is something very important though so I continue to struggle and make them sit down and wait for eachother. How important do you think it is to have dinner together at the table?

Doing things for the right reasons

2008-09-08T10:39:00.002-03:00

Yesterday I was watching the film "Facing The Giants" and I have to say it was a great film! Although it wasn't the best film I've ever seen,but it was very good. The message was clear and it made me think about what an impact today's teachers and society and we parents have on teenagers.

If you have not seen the film it is about a football coach who's team isn't winning, the parents aren't happy with him, his car is about to die forever, his wife doesn't get pregnant and things aren't going so well for him. Until one day when he search Jesus and tells his team that they have been trying to win for the wrong causes, they need to honor God whether if they win or not. Once they change their focus things start to go well for the team and things get better.

It is a truly wonderful film and I cried at the end but I cry easily. There were several scenes where you could see the cheerleaders cheering and dancing to support the team and that is something I find neat. I say neat because America is probably the first place you think about when you say cheerleaders. Brazil definitely do not have them, although they have cure girls dancing in every program instead.

And it makes me think it must be so much fun being a cheerleader. Just to use special cheerleading uniforms and cheerleading shoes makes it all the better. They look as if they have so much energy and enjoy what they do and they are very talented. I'm sure it takes some training to become good and as from what you see on film there is a pressure to be good. Which is understandable.

Well, whether it is football or cheerleading I think it is necessary to support our children to do things for the right reasons, not only to win. Having fun is important and honoring God is the best reason of them all in my opinion. I don't care if I would have to buy cheerleading apparel to make sure my daughter was accepted in the team, as long as she does it for the right reasons and are happy about it it would be money well spent.

Even if you are not a Christian the film is absolutely recommended, it teaches us valuable lessons about what we do in life and why.

Almost spotless

2008-09-05T13:30:00.002-03:00

Yesterday I did a "faxina", which is when you clean your house from the inside out and make sure it is clean. Well I started around 8.45am and didn't stop until 1pm when I realized I needed to have some lunch.

I washed all clothes, three loads, now funnily enough I only had two garments from all these loads.. why is that?? I cleaned the bathrooms, the whole yard, and the whole house., And I ironed all clothes in the evening. It felt great!

But the thing is that no matter how much you clean the house is never really spotless. I mean there is always something to clean up or something to do. Today I don't have much to do, only do the dishes and sweep the yard but besides from that- nothing. Wonderful.

Better enjoy it while I an, tomorrow I will probably need to clean again although not as thorough. lol

A cozy home

2008-09-05T12:30:00.003-03:00

When we moved in to our home I said I wanted to make it a cozy home, one that you would like to enter and feel a warm feeling inside. Well that has been more difficult than I imagined actually. There seems to be a lack of cozy things to decorate your home with in Brazil. Or at least I never find what I would like.

If I had IKEA around I would have bought several things from there but since there isn't an IKEA in Brazil that makes it a bit more difficult. Of course there are nice shops with things I would love to buy but they are always out of my price range which makes it harder.

Well one thing that does make a house cozier is a rug, so I made sure we bought two rugs when we moved in as well as a few for the bathroom. And it made all the difference! I love my rugs today and wouldn't want to be without them.

So if your house needs an extra touch of something but you are not sure what then area rugs could be the solution. With so many different models and patterns out there on the market you are bound to find something you like. Plaza Rugs has more than 400 different models and will even help you chose the right rug for your home if you are not sure what rug to buy. Their contemporary rugs has become a favorite for many and can surely suit your style as well.

Except for the rugs I also recommend getting some nice and beautiful curtains. Here most curtains are very plain and quite boring but we managed to find some beautiful blue curtains on sale which we quickly snapped up. My next project is to decorate with flowers, the ones I have are all in the backyard. I really do wish I had a better eye for decorating and some good shops, and money, to make my home even nicer.

What do you think makes your home cozy?

Mom, did you hear??

2008-09-03T13:34:00.002-03:00

Son and DH is in the bathroom this morning to take a shower and get ready for school. Choriço is a bit late, as usual, and DH bursts out saying a bad word. Immediately Choriço says "You can't say that. Jesus doesn't like that!"

I heard everything and smiled. Then he continues;

"Mom, did you hear what daddy said?!!? He used a very bad word, you shouldn't say that."
"No sweetie, you are absolutely right, how good of you to correct daddy" I answered.

He was quite upset his daddy had used a bad word and I was very pleased with the reaction I have to say. His daddy probably felt kind of bad but I'm sure it was a good lesson learned. *lol*

How I wish this was me

2008-09-01T15:38:00.003-03:00

How I wish this was me...

It looks so nice... I would love to be on the beach, far away from noise and everything and just enjoy the oceans beat. Hearing the waves and feeling the sand between my toes...

I am so saving for a beach holiday this year!

Photo:rafamado

The good thing about being a WAHM

2008-08-29T09:30:00.003-03:00

I love being a WAHM. I especially like that I can rush off anytime if my son is sick or I can stay at home with him and not have to worry about going to work. If there is one day that I can't work that is fine as long as I do what I need to pr let my clients know. I love the flexibility it gives me.

Choriço asked me to stay at home yesterday, this is somethign he does everyday and I never let him but yesterday I said yes. I can spend quality time with my son without feeling guilty about it and it feels great. Right now he is watching TV and I am replying to emails and checking what needs to be done today. Later we will play a little together and just chill.

I love being a WAHM! And if you would like to work at home as well then go for it! I'll help you with any questions you may have, just shoot me an email.

A sunny Sunday in the park

2008-08-25T14:58:00.002-03:00

I finally managed to convince my husband that a trip to the park was just what our family needed. My husband, not being very keen on the idea at all, finally agreed and we all went, including Choriço's cousin.

At the park we saw Capivara's which C's cousin called cows, we laughed at that. The weather was beautiful and sunny and we all had ice cream looking over the river. The monkeys didn't appear and Choriço is talking about us going back again soon to see them.

We didn't stay too long at the park but next time I will make sure we have a picnic in the sun next to the capivaras :) I can't wait to go there again!

Online furniture shopping

2008-08-24T14:19:00.003-03:00

I love going to furniture stores to see how I can improve my home and perhaps add something extra to it. The only thing I don't like is the pain my feet feels after doing it for a whole day. This is often what happens when me an my husband are looking for something new to our house, we seek out all furniture stores in town and walk up, and down, to go back up again to finally go down again and so on it goes.

When we were looking at bedroom furniture for our new house we did this walking up and down a few times. Thankfully these days many shops have their stock online so there is no need to get blisters from walking too much. eFurniture Showroom's actual showroom is online which makes it great when looking for living room furniture for example. Instead of having to find a salesman you can get all the details off the site and order when you are ready. Gotta like that! I personally don't like talking to salesmen much so I prefer this way and wish more stores would make their products available online.

When we bought office furniture to my mini office here at home we looked online to see where we could find good deals. Even if we have to visit the store later we don't mind as we already know what we are looking for then.

A few tips about buying furnitures online;
* Check that the company is reliable, do a quick online search or ask friends if they know about the company.
* Give the store a call to actually talk to someone.
* Ask a bout refunds and delivery times to make sure you know what your rights are.
* If you can, go to the shop itself and see the furnitures before buying them.

eFurnitureShowroom.com deliver quality goods straight from the manufacturer to your home, offering a large selection with affordable prices.

A moment of desperation

2008-08-24T13:48:00.004-03:00

The other day I was cleaning up in the kitchen when my husband got home. We started chatting on the sofa about something and I started, as I often do, to touch my wedding ring. Only that it wasn't there! I stopped talking in the middle of sentence and got this horrible feeling of desperation.

Where is my ring???
My husband got mad and said that I must have taken it off. I never take it off so I knew there wasn't a chance I had done that. My mother in law came by with some cooked beans and I told her I had lost it. (Later she told me that when she got home she had put a glass of water under the sink to help me find it. She has all these funny ideas about doing things.)

Well her help wasn't needed though because I found the ring just after she had left, it was on the floor. As I was drying the dishes the ring got caught in the old scruffy (but clean) towel I was using. I remember I heard a strange sound as something hit the cupboard but thought nothing else of it.

Now I know that next time I use an old towel to dry the dishes I will be more cautious.

A new start

2008-08-22T14:54:00.003-03:00

Moving somewhere new often means a totally new start. It means getting to know new people, adjust oneself to a new environment and so on. But it also means that you have to deal with the whole moving thing; packing, unpacking, dissembling, assembling etc...

I have moved a few times in my life but not always with furnitures so some moves have been easier than others. But something that really helps when moving is to use a good moving company! You may think that you can do it all by yourself, and of course you can but you will also be more exhausted than if you had taken the help of a professional. Instead of spending hours packing and dissembling furnitures you can make sure you are taking care of the last details so nothing goes wrong. Good Movers help you with all these things, they even give you advice on how to best move your pet for you if you have one. 123Movers help you with all that and more! They help you locate the nearest movers in your area and help you with anything in regards to your moving, storage facilities, moving supplies, International moving etc.

If I ever decide to move back to Sweden I would surely invest in using a moving company, these days there are so many moving companies around so you need to make sure you use a reliable one. The fun part about moving is when you are at the new house and are unpacking, to see all your dear things makes the move easier.

New Design

2008-08-22T14:46:00.002-03:00

I have been talking about changing the design for some time now but haven't had time but today I finally decided to do something about it. So now you can see a new header, new colors and a few other changes.

I will continue to make some changes throughout the next few days. Many have complimented the old look but I felt it was time for something new so I hope you like the new look.

If something doesn't look quite right, let me know.

A unique gift

2008-08-20T14:01:00.002-03:00

I am unfortunately not very good at buying gifts, I really wish I was. Every time a birthday is approaching I get stressed and ask myself what on earth I should get that is special and they won't get from anyone else?

Thankfully there is this wonderful thing called gift baskets. You can buy the most wonderful unique gift baskets that surely no one else will give. No matter the occasion you can find a basket that will fit perfectly.

Chesapeake Bay offers gorgeous baskets of all kinds, a look at their gourmet gift baskets makes you wish it was your birthday soon. Not only to they contain lots of goodies, some even have wooden spoons and other fun things in them. How can you resist a gift basket like that? These baskets are not only perfect for friends, Chesapeake Bays corporate gift program makes it so much easier for companies that would like to show appreciation to their employees.

You can find small gift baskets or bigger ones, the more you spend the more you get for your money and the happier the receiver will be. It doesn't necessarily need to be a food basket though, it can be a spa basket as well. A way to encourage a tired work colleague to take care of herself. The spa baskets contain everything to make you feel energized or relaxed, depending on what you need. With wonderful soaps and lotions to make anyone smell and feel good. But don't think that it is only for women, no there are special baskets for men only so next time you are shopping for a man this might be something to consider.

I would absolutely love to get a gift basket if it was my birthday or if my employer wanted to buy me something extra. Hope this helps next time you don't know what gift to buy!

Quiet time for moms?

2008-08-20T13:40:00.002-03:00

I believe it is important to reflect on life and what is happening in one's life regularly. I think we all should take time to always make sure we have time for ourselves.

As a mom that is not always easy. Unless you are lucky to be a WAHM then you may not have much time to sit down and go through your own thoughts. For us WAHM's it is easier to find a few minutes here and there to just do nothing, we might find it difficult as we work from home and there is no limit to when we can work but that is also a benefit.

A WAHM can take a nap during the day if she wants to, not that I ever have mind you, she can make coffee anytime she wants, I don't drink coffee any longer, she can call her friends whenever she has time and she can prepare dinner exactly when she wants. And much more.

But she might not do any of these things as she works from home, and working from home is not always easy. It's not everyone who work in their pj's, most don't. But no matter where you work it is important to find time only for you.

Me, I love going to the park, but there is no park where I live and if I want to go to one I would have to take two buses to get there. Now lucky me have English students that live just by the lake and park so every Wednesday I am close to the park but I never go there. But today I will. Today I will leave work earlier and just sit there by the lake for some time and reflect on my life and pray. It will be my quiet time only for me. Do I feel bad about it? Nah not really. Actually I feel really happy about it and look forward to it. And really I should try and do this every Wednesday if only for a few minutes.

Of course you do not need to go tpo a park to get some quiet time, some prefer to sleep or just stay at home. What is important is that it is a quiet time only for you.

Do you set aside a special quiet time for yourself when you sit and do nothing?

A blessed friendship

2008-08-18T14:57:00.003-03:00

When I came to Brazil I was quite lonely. Or really lonely. I am still quite lonely, but only a little. Getting to know people isn't easy unless you have some kind of reason to get to know them, a common place where you can get to know each other.

Well I met M, a missionary and her husband M, and my life changed completely. M has meant more to me than I can ever express and I thank the Lord every day for putting us together. Unfortunately for me M had to leave to go back to the States yesterday. We knew their time was limited here and they have already been here for about two years.

On Saturday the church held a special memorial service for them that was absolutely wonderful. I couldn't help but crying, I even had to go out for while because I couldn't stop crying. Afterwards anyone who wanted to say something special to them could go up and do so. And of course I had to do say something. Well with me up there M started crying and I started to cry even more. And at night when I came home I couldn't stop crying either, the tears just kept coming.

But yesterday I didn't cry, they left just after service and although I feel really sad I am trying not to cry. I know they will be back next year, if only for a short while. Thankfully there is the Net! And Skype!

I wish that everyone get to meet someone as special as M and family are to me, it is a real blessing to have friends like that.

Shoe Lovers Paradise

2008-08-18T14:17:00.002-03:00

Brazil is a wonderful place for shoe lovers! I have never been to keen on buying shoes before I moved here but here it is easy to become a shoe addict for real. Women's Sandals are everywhere and in all different styles and colors.

When we moved here one of the first things my husband did was to take me shoe shopping. It felt so great and I adored the shoes I could chose from. My husband was a shoe salesman for eight years before we met so he knows shoes so I trust him completely when buying shoes.

Finding cheap shoes is normally not a problem, the problem can be to find good quality shoes at a good price. I have a few places that I know sell good shoes at affordable prices but it would of course be nice to be able to buy more expensive ones without looking at the price. A few months ago I had to buy a par of boots, somehow walking in sneakers didn't seem appropriate when meeting clients. So I tried to find a nice pair of fashion boots that wouldn't ruin me. On a tight budget I set off to find a pair I liked. Well how lucky weren't I? The first place I went to had a pair that were perfect and to the best price ever. And there was only one pair left as someone had bought them but returned them so they were at a much better price. That was great, if it only could be that easy every time.

I am also a fan of flip flops, the more flowers and color they have the better. Here everyone use flip flops everyday so it is nice if they look good as well.

Like shoes and are planning a trip to Brazil? Well save some space, you might find yourself with several extra pairs when leaving.

If you are not going to Brazil then visiting Shoeocean.com can be an option. With a large collection for all tastes and affordable prices they surely have something you like as well.

Beautiful sleep

2008-08-14T15:02:00.002-03:00

Last night I made noodles for Choriço, he likes to eat noodles at night and even if it is against my thinking of "real food" I figure that once in a while can't hurt him. So I made his dear noodles, he complained about the water being bad- not very tasty. I told him not to drink the water if he didn't like it but he drank it anyway.

Family starts arguing about Choriço not sitting up when he is eating but instead more or less lying down. He starts to cry a bit and says he is going to throw up. We tell him to stop sulking and stop with that nonsense (reason being is that his cousin throws up when he cries and Choriço sometimes use that as a way to get out of trouble). We all go to bed and in the middle of the night I wake up and two seconds later Choriço is throwing up big time. Yes, it was the noodles.

"I told you I felt like throwing up" he said accusingly to us. We felt bad of course, guess we won't turn the deaf ear on any time soon to that kind of statement again.

After everything was cleaned up something very nice happened. We were all lying in bed, once again, and Choriço starts to sing. He starts to sing some really nice songs, I couldn't really figure out what he was singing but it sure was a real song. Instead of telling him to be quiet, which was my first reaction, I stayed quiet and just listened and fell a sleep to the beautiful hymn of his song in my head.

Poor Choriço was a bit shaken up and had to stay at home from nursery today but he is all fine now. Not sure he will eat noodles any time soon though... *lol*

Hardwood for your kitchen

2008-08-08T10:47:00.002-03:00

Ever since we moved to our house I have been dreaming of having a new kitchen. I would love a big, spacious and light kitchen. As we all know birch is a wonderful kind of tee, one of the most beautiful in my opinion. White and soft on the outside and wonderfully light patterned on the inside. This kind of tree makes it a beautiful wood for kitchen cabinets. Imagine a big kitchen made out of birch, covered with light varnish so the patterns are still noticeable.

Hardwood specializes in custom made products made out of Aspen and Lumber Hardwood white birch. On their site you can see the different technicalities for various trees. They have a point system to tell you what is good , perfect and not so good when buying wood. This is essential information when wanting to add wooden flooring to your house or make wooden furnitures.

As this company is specializing in wood you will not have to worry about any extra trees being cut down, they care about the environment and make sure no tree is unnecessary cut down. Funded in 1987 they have grown to become the largest sellers of white birch in east Canada today.

Why choose lumber hardwood white birch? Well it doesn't have any mineral streaks, its white color is very sought after and it is fleck free. Though it is a rather small tree in comparison to others it does have its advantages considering the above mentioned.

Now, I will have to continue dreaming of my white birch kitchen but if you are thinking of redoing your kitchen and aren't sure what wood to go for I would suggest birch. It is incredibly beautiful and just can't go wrong.

Rainy days

2008-08-08T10:29:00.003-03:00

For about a month we had no rain at all, the air became dry and allergies were more common than not. I wished it would start to rain and so it did, of course not because of me but I was glad when it started. Only that once it starts it will never end.

Now we have more wet days than dry ones, in the morning it is usually dry but only for a while, then the rain starts to fall again. The leaves are falling from the trees and swiping the pavement twice a day is common practice. Funny, cannot recall anyone swiping their pavement in Sweden. I can imagine I go back there and want to go out and sweep *lol* Could be a bit odd.

This morning it rained a lot, so today Choriço is at home from nursery and is currently watching a film while I try to catch up on some things that have been left behind for too long. It doesn't look like it will stop to rain anytime soon today...

If I didn't have so much to do it would be a perfect day to play inside and just have fun with Choriço. But well that will have to wait until my projects are over. I was supposed to have had a few days off two weeks back but that didn't happen and now I'm not sure when it will happen, I am so longing to get back to my normal working life.

Let's hope the sun starts shining soon , inside and outside.

Industry equipment

2008-08-08T09:33:00.008-03:00

Industries requires big machines to function, but where do they come from? We get so use to seeing these machines that we forget the company behind them. SME is one of these companies that supply equipment to saw mills and engineering firms etc.

SME help both sellers and buyers to get the best out of the products, such as surplus paper machinery and other tools necessary in this industry. Through their special guidance they can help you find the best deals that will end in a good purchase. Using their online catalogue buyers can easily find the necessary information needed with an ability to contact the seller and make an offer anonymously. The same thing goes for the seller, they can negotiate through SME with the buyer and reveal all essential details.

Regardless of if it is surplus mechanical equipment or Rebuilt Pulp and Paper Equipment, SME helps not only with the negotiation and purchase but also with shipping and dismantling. They can also help with finding additional parts needed after purchase. On their site you can find links to pulp and paper, sawmills, aluminum, mines and motorized equipments, simply click on the link you are interested in and you will be able to see the chosen equipment and all details, if you have any further questions you are only one click away from their customer services.

If this seems like something you might need or your company could use then it will be a good idea go to SME to see how they can help. To find out more information about their company you may want to sign up for their newsletter and become a member to get access to their promotions.

Mama's coffee FREE corner

2008-08-02T17:00:00.004-03:00

So I have started some new healthy habits, I did a light detox and started to run. It has been almost two weeks since and I feel so good!

Coffee addiction
You see, I was tired of being dependent on the coffee and feel tired and risk getting a terrible headache if I did not have my morning coffee. And I drank 2-3 big cups of black coffee in the morning and about the same amount in the afternoon. But I didn't feel good, I started to feel that I only felt tired and that I actually got a headache after I drank the coffee. And I have never liked the idea of being dependent on anything so I thought it was time to break these habits. As much as I like coffee...

And I have had this desire to take up running again, for years I've wanted to do that. When I got pregnant with Choriço I worked at a gym and worked out four times a week. I had just decided that I would invest in my training and then what happened... well I got pregnant and I stopped training. I regret it so much, I had wonderful personal trainers available who made programs especially for me but I didn't keep it up. Now if I get pregnant again that will not happen!

I had to have a c-section with Choriço as he didn't want to turn his head down so exercising after he was born wasn't really an option. And when we moved here I didn't know my way around and my husband didn't really like the idea of me running around by myself.

Well not that has changed, Choriço is no longer a baby, I have recuperated from his birth and I know my way around. But then there was this lazy feeling hanging all over me, I had become too addicted to sweets and coffee and laziness was dragging me down.

Treat your body like a temple
Something I often think about is that we should treat our bodies as a temple. And we have to nourish and take care of it the right way or its walls will fall down.

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Thinking of this has really helped to to step up and take care of myself. So what did I do?

Well I took a few days detox with only a small amount of coffee in the morning, no coffee in the afternoon and I only ate fresh and raw fruits and vegetables. Two days into this I started running so I increased the amount of food I ate and have since had only a little carbohydrates inform of rice or potatoes and not every meal. No bread, no pasta and especially nothing fried.

I have lost almost all taste for sweets and haven't had any cravings for it. I don't think I've lost much weight but my trousers are slightly more comfortable than they were before and I feel so much better. I even set my alarm to et up at 6,40 on Saturdays to go out for a run. I know this is a long term project so the weight will come off eventually.

I have never been a believer of diets really, I believe in sound advice and good eating habits and I like food to much to starve myself. And I wanted to change for good, not only for a few days!

Quitting the coffee: I thought this was going to be really hard. As I have constantly reduced the amount of coffee everyday to only a few zips it didn't turn out to be as hard as I thought. That I only had a coffee that tastes horrible as well did of course help me. I haven't felt any cravings for coffee either which is great. And I don't want it back so I am staying away from this dark drink. :)

So now, should I change the name to Mama's Coffee Free Corner? *lol*

Great news!

2008-07-22T15:51:00.002-03:00

I've got great news! (Well I think it is great) We have found a nearby playground!

Actually I suspect it has always been there, I've just never seen it. Which is quite strange as I have passed there several times and never noticed it. Well now during Choriço's school break we have been to see the sheep's that are not to far away from here. Yesterday I took some other kids with me as well and they said they wanted to go to the park. I knew there was an area for skateboarding but I had never seen the area for kids.

The area itself is quite small an only have three "toys", all made out of wood. There are also some broken and very low tree benches to sit on. Well it might be tiny and not the best playground but it is a playground and my son totally loves it! And so does I actually, seeing him play and run around happy is great. *lol*

So today I took him again and he didn't really want to leave when I told him that we had to go. For me the lack of a playground has been a big issue actually. I think all kids should be able to go to a playground and run around and play. Well now I have finally found one, it may not be the best but it does serve its purpose. :)

Planning a family holiday

2008-07-21T15:29:00.002-03:00

It's summertime in most parts of the world and that means holiday for most families. Planning a family holiday is not the same thing as planning a holiday when you don't have kids. It is slightly more time consuming and requires some extra attention to make sure it is child friendly.

Child Friendly helps you plan your family holiday not only in the UK but all over the world. You can read about where other families have been and what they thought about the place. Don't want to or don't have the budget to go abroad? Getting out and about with the family needn't be expensive, do something local. Take the kids to a local farm, go for an ice cream, take trip to a close by shopping mall or just do something you usually don't do. Kids are easily entertained most of the time.

Live in the UK and want to take the family out for a Pub lunch but are not sure where to? You will find family friendly choices on the site with reviews and all necessary information you need. A look at the family pubs in London show quite many options. I personally recommend a trip to Hampstead Heath, enjoy the enormous park and then go for lunch at The Holly Bush, the kids will love it! And you will enjoy the nice area with small shops.You can also use Google Maps to show you exactly where your selected destination is and how to get there. It will also tell you about other restaurants and things to do in the area.

Summer is not over yet so there are still plenty of time to plan a family friendly holiday. Even if you only have a few days, make sure that you do something. Get together with another family and do something together. It will be more fun and you can probably cut the costs in half.

Summer is great and way to short to stay inside all the time!

Dreaming of a holiday

2008-07-19T17:16:00.002-03:00

Can you believe that I have never been to the beach here in Brazil! It's a shame isn't it!?! Each year I tell my DH that we will go and each year we realize it won't be happening.

I still have my hopes for this year. As summer is in Dec I still have a few months to save up for us to go. Unfortunately it is the staying that makes it impossible for us. Everything gets really expensive in Dec as it's high season. But I still have my hopes up for this year and shall start saving *lol*

Do you feel you "need" to go on holiday every year? How often do you go and does it need to be abroad?

A week full of joy

2008-07-11T17:49:00.004-03:00

I am hoping next week will be a week full of joy. Next week is winter break so Choriço will be at home for a week. I have decided to take some time off during that time and fully dedicate myself to him.

I am planning to only speak Swedish with him, or try- it's getting harder each day, play some games and just do fun things. We kind of started the week today as he has been at home today. Today is my birthday so I used that as an excuse to keep him at home. We haven't celebrated much, I made a chocolate cake for the sake of making a cake but I've only had a small bite. No fun making a cake when I will be the only one eating it.

We took a short walk to look at the sheep not to far away from here. Choriço loves looking at them and was thrilled to see there was a small lamb there as well. I was a bit worried its mom would get angry but it she just kept looking and didn't do anything. Then we went to my MIL and Choriço played with his cousin for awhile.

Now it is almost dinner time and as I keep traditions when it comes to birthdays I will not cook dinner but order a pizza. *lol*

Well the holiday break started good, lets hope next week will be as pleasant or better :)

Best Buying Guide for Moms

2008-07-11T15:48:00.002-03:00

Shopping for baby stuff is one of the most exciting things a mother can do before her baby arrives. It is also a task that requires time and patience, especially if you are on a budget. And it seems as if more and more mothers are looking for that best buy.

I love things that facilitate mommy/parent life and an easy shopping guide is just what every mommy to be needs when shopping around for baby clothes, toys etc. Internet shopping is supposed to be easy but can sometimes leave you more tired than store shopping. After browsing around for hours there is little energy left to actually buy the things you want to buy.

Instead of searching in the dark on the net you can now turn to ShopWiki and find exactly what you are looking for. ShopWiki is this smart new way of finding stuff for sale on the net, meaning your results will be more spot on than if only using a regular search engine.

So a mom looking to buy a stroller can go to ShopWiki's Babies and Toddler page and search for strollers. You will get full information what different kinds of strollers there are to chose from and they even tell you what stroller fits within your budget. I like that the descriptions are detailed and will tell you what you get and even show you an image of the product. They also link to external pages where you can find more information.

Every mother needs a diaper bag, here you will find out what to look for, brands, what to fill it with and even the latest trends in diaper bags. (The great thing with diaper bags is that these days they can easily be mistaken for a normal bag, the designs are chic and modern.)

If you have valuable additional product information you would like to share you can join the ShopWiki community. By showing other moms ShopWiki's shopping guide you can help them to find just what they need and spend less time on looking for products and more time buying them.

I think ShopWiki is great and suggest you start your search there next time you are looking to buy things over the net.

Days gone by

2008-06-22T11:36:00.002-03:00

Oh dear! Time flies! It goes so incredibly quickly that I don't even know here to start. I have to say that working at home has made me lost all concept of time. Don't ask me what date it is because I will probably not know, horrible isn't it?

Well this past month we have had many things going on at home. Choriço got a hamster, who unfortunately only was a member of our family for about a week. Then one of the dogs got him. Sad isn't it? I feel a little bit bad as I didn't manage to keep the little birdy alive and now the hamster... But what happened with the hamster was an accident, like that is supposed to make it any better. *lol*

I have started some real discipline training here at home, it is working quite well actually so far. I will post about that in the next few days, it might work for you as well if you have unruly kids.

Revka, my design partner, has just had a baby! I am very excited and thrilled for her and her family! She is currently on maternity leave so I am "holding the fort "at RS Designs at the moment. We are having a Summer Special at the moment where you can get a new design for $50!

Winter has also come and it is cold! Today it is quite warm but we've had some really really cold days.

And then of course there are much more to tell you about... *lol* but we will ahve to take that another day. i'm off to my MIL's for Sunday Lunch!
Have a nice Sunday!

A wonderful Mother's Day!

2008-05-13T16:16:00.001-03:00

First I want to wish all mothers a Happy belated Mother's Day! It is a great joy to be a mother and I see it as such a privilege to take care of this little boy that is "mine".

I had to take little Choriço to the hospital on Friday, there is no pediatrician here at our health clinic on Fridays so they send everyone into town. Oh that made me angry. Choriço got bitten by one of our dogs the previous evening and he also had a cold. I wasn't really worried about the bite though, it was only on the surface of his skin but of course I still wanted to take him in for a check up. There we had to go through a questionnaire about the dog and she explained everything very well for me.

Now the biting in itself, our little dog is easily upset and doesn't like it when Choriço starts teasing her (which he loves to do) . I am sure she didn't bite him on purpose but of course I started thinking about putting her down or give her away. The latter would be difficult as she is a one man dog and doesn't like other people. Well for now everything is Ok so I am not worried that it will happen again and I think Choriço learned his lesson.

As he was sick on Friday I didn't get a chance to see the prepared performance at the nursery and was a bit upset of course. Well on Sunday at church I got to watch a beautiful performance. First we were shown a beautiful video with all our pictures. They had taken our pics a few weeks earlier. It was wonderful and I almost cried. Then they kids danced and sang a beautiful song. Well almost all kids, Choriço started jumping on and off the stage playing with one of his friends. That is when I though "yep that's my boy"- typically my child not to stand still and sing. :) Choriço was very proud to show me his dance.

All moms also got to stand up front and received a gorgeous little purse as well as applauds. At the end the kids came and gave us the pictures that we had taken, mine was in a beautiful red silverish frame with a picture of me and Choriço. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever gotten in my life I think. So much love in the air as the kids happily showed us how much they love us. As I haven't got any pictures with me and Choriço it meant even more to me. Now I have put it up and look at it everyday.

It was a Mother's Day I will never forget.

*Yes I know I have repeatedly said beautiful but there is no other way to describe this :) *

Scrubs & Beyond

2008-04-28T16:20:00.006-03:00

Say medical scrubs and many women will think of George Clooney and his blue scrub and ER. Well I got news for you, medical scrubs are not only blue these days, nor are they white. They now come in beautiful patterns and colors.

Scrubs & Beyond specializes in scrubs, their cherokee medical scrubs comes in pink, blue and yellow. Besides from scrubs they have very comfortable looking tops and pants. Their nursing uniform selection also include dickies scrubs, these scrubs have a slightly different design to them and a more colorful approach with deep pink colors but I can definitely see how it would be comfortable working in them. The difference between them and the cherokee medical scrubs is the V-neck and the colors.

But the most beautiful of them all is the new Katherine Heigl scrubs! I mean look at that! I think these scrubs are beautiful and as far from boring blue scrubs you can get. If this is the new fashion in nursing hey then even I can have a re think about becoming a nurse. *lol*

This might not be the option for hospitals, yet, but for private nursing it is great- practical and beautiful!

Well I have to say I think this is absolutely beautiful and it is definitely about time that the nursing uniforms had some colors and patterns added to them. If I worked as a nurse I would probably run to my boss straightaway and show him these beautiful scrubs!!

((Perhaps I could buy one and use here at home, I mean I do take care of my family, isn't that almost the same thing??? ))

Huh? What did you say?

2008-04-28T14:32:00.001-03:00

Choriço has always been a slow talker, I mean words are coming out of his mouth it's just that no one understands what he is saying . Those who do not belong to the family often have no idea what he is saying and ask me to interpret his conversations.

Well interpreting does only work when you know what the other person is saying, which is not always the case here. There are times when I have no idea what he is saying. And boy does he get mad at me when I try to figure out what it is he is saying and I don't get it right. That is when I say: "Aha, I see, OK". And pretend I totally understand what he is saying and everything is fine.

But lately he has started talking and saying things he has never said before, long sentences that just comes so naturally. Simple things that for us is not, like yesterday I asked him to remove his toys from the floor and he said; "well mom you go ahead and move them then". Me and DH looked at each other and said; where did that come from?

And it makes us feel so proud, our baby knows how to talk and he is so smart. *lol*

I really want to remember times like this. These are nice memories.

Do you have the look?

2008-04-25T20:04:00.002-03:00

Do you have the look? What look? The look of the year that is!

The dream of becoming a supermodel is something that most girls have, most of us forget about it as we grow up but for some it continues to be a dream. If you are one of those now is your chance.

The Look Of The Year online beauty contest is the chance for those who are dreaming of signing a contract as a model. The contest is open to everyone all over the world from 14 years and up. As long as you at least feel young and beautiful you can participate for the fun of it. Four finalists will be chosen in December so you still have some time to shape up if needed.

Your chances to win increase as the jury is actually online voters, so get your family and friends to vote for you.

The price? How does $10.000 sound?

So what are you waiting for? Go submit that photo now! *lol* You can find everything you need to know at http://www.lookoftheyear.com.

Busy bee

2008-04-25T14:28:00.003-03:00

Oh dear, I am so busy these days, now especially with the Bloggy giveaway going on. But I am definitely not complaining, I like being busy and this is being busy in a good way so it's OK.

Choriço got a cold on Monday and had to be home for a fee days but is now OK. This boy is getting so big! Seriously can you ever get used to the fact that your child is growing up? I wonder how my mom feels about having a grown up daughter. Scary thought!

The winter has also come, it is now quite chilly every day and the other day it was almost snowing in some parts not to far from here. I say almost snowing because it was hailing and within 10 minutes the ground was covered in white. It was quite funny to see on TV I have to say :)

It is now 3pm and time for some afternoon coffee, I have replied to emails (and customized a lot of headers) all morning and a good part of the afternoon. So now I think I deserve some coffee :)

Blog contributors wanted

2008-04-23T16:59:00.001-03:00

Do you love to blog about food?

Brazilian Food Love is looking for contributors!

I do not have the time needed to post regularly myself but this blog receives a steady flow of traffic everyday and it would be a shame to let it go to waste, therefor I am now looking for blog contributors and guest bloggers!

What I am looking for:

One or two experienced bloggers with a passion for food. Experience in writing recipes is a must as well as fluency in English. Ability to post at least 1-3 posts per week. You also need to be willing to spread the word about BFL- the more exposure for the blog the better for you as well. SEO experience is good but not necessary.

Brazilian writers will have preference but is absolutely no requirement.

What you get:

This is the sad part for some- no money but you do get exposure. Brazilian Food Love receives a steady flow of daily traffic and has a high rank in Google searches. You will be presented on the blog as a contributor in which you can link to your blog(s). A link to your blog and introduction post will be available in the sidebar.

At the moment this blog does not have any kinds of income, however, should it start to receive a steady flow of income I will discuss payment with you. As freelance writer myself I do know how important it is to get the right exposure and to get paid for it.

You will also receive blogging guidance if needed.

Don't want to become a regular contributor but a Guest Blogger? That can also be arranged.

If interested please send an email to: brazilianfoodlove *@*gmail.com with subject: Blog Contributor or Guest Blogger

Remove the *. Please include a link to your current blog(s) as well as tell me how often you would be able to post.

(I am planning a face lift for the blog- just not sure when)

Technorati Tags: blog contributors, blogger wanted, guest bloggers, brazilian food, food blogs

Super Granny!

2008-04-04T10:57:00.004-03:00

My son is so lucky I have to say! With my relatives being far away he has got the best ones here. They are always supportive and help us whenever needed.

The other day my MIL called and said she ahd bought a bicycle to Choriço and his cousin H. I was very surprised and at the same time ever so grateful. Me and DH have been talking about buying a bicycle and started looking but after seeing the horrendous prices we decided that he would have to wait a little longer.

Yesterday the bicycle arrived from the store and seeing the expression and happiness on Choriços face was the greatest pay I think. He was so happy and started riding it immediately. No problems what so ever with riding his new bike. At night he asked me to put it away in the back to "keep it safe".

I thanked my MIL but the small thanks I gave her will never show the great thankfulness I feel. I don't think she understands the value of her gift. I am probably more grateful for it than Choriço, in a way he will never understand.

Sensing my works value

2008-03-24T13:05:00.004-03:00

My house is quite unorganized actually, I will admit that. My DH complains and I say I haven't got enough time to keep it organized.

This morning I realized why I do not have time to keep the house uncluttered and organized but instead have to run around like a headless chicken trying to find something at the last minute; because I do not take the time it actually takes to keep the house clean. It's as simple as that!

I am always stressed wanting more time but after reading a few very appropriate lines in Proverbs I realized I am doing it all wrong.

"She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day"
Pro31:18 The Message Bible

Reading that just made everything clear. Why do I stress and hurry all the time and always end up with a feeling that I need to do more. I leave things for the next day and the next day I leave it to the next and on it goes. All of a sudden I felt such pride in being able to take care of my home and my things. I cleared out the wardrobe and organized things that have beens lying around for way too long. And it feel so nice!

See; I do have the time, if I allow myself to make time and put aside things that are not important.

Do you take time to sense the worth of your work?

Make yourself at home

2008-03-22T19:06:00.002-03:00

"Make yourself at home", "The house is yours" common experssions used to make our guests feel at easy when they are visiting.

But do they? How much are you supposed to "take care of " your guests? I should probably put up a sign that says; " Welcome, make yourself at home but don't expect any special treatment" Because that is what I am like.

I will treat everyone with respect and in a caring way but I will not stress myself and treat you like a royal guest.

My husbands uncle is visiting us at the moment, he popped up like a clown in a box for the weekend and every time he comes it's the same thing. "Cook more food" , " N want this, N likes it like this..." etc. My MIL calls me to tell me to make more food, for us to eat there etc. He does eat a lot so my MIL is afraid I won't cook enough food. *lol*

And sure; while I think you should treat your guests, be it relative or not, with love and respect I am a firm believer that; whatever I have in my house is what I will offer. I will not go over mountains to get something for someone just because "they are my guest". And that is what I stick to but I am afraid I come out as this non caring woman who doesn't care for her guests which is not true. I do try to improve normal dinners and cook nice food etc to make sure my guests are comfortable. And that is also how I think your guest will feel more at home.

How do you treat your guests? Do you start stressing yourself about food and other non essential necessities only for your guests? How would you like to be treated when you visit someone? Do I sound too cruel? Tell me- I can handle the truth *lol*.

Lets party with Mommies United!

2008-03-18T15:19:00.005-03:00

The Ultimate Blog Part is quickly being followed by another great party from Mommies United. Whoho!!!!!!!!!

I love a good party so of course I will have to participate and as poor coffee mama here didn't get to participate in the UBP she is participating in this one!!

The Mommies from Mommies United have lots of prizes for you to win.

Want to know a little about me? Well as you can see in the About me I am Swedish, live in Brazil, married to a Brasileiro with a wonderful little sweet son referred to as Choriço who is 4 years old. I work as a freelance writer and blog designer at RS Designs. Talking of designs this blog is about to get a face lift soon. I also blog about working at home on Making A Happy Life where you can find lots of resources for WAHM's.

I have recently discovered digital scrap booking and would love to play with hat but time isn't on my side. I love to photograph but rarely take the camera with me. I have a lousy memory and never remember peoples names or faces, I sleep too much, exercise less than I should, love chips and DietCoke. And I am terribly coffee addicted and sugar addicted. Actually I am a carb addict as well, no escaping that. I try to exercise regularly and drink lots of water daily but usually fail. *lol* My good qualities? I have a loving heart and I make wonderful cakes. :)

I try to live by Proverbs 31 but boy is that hard! I think I am doing pretty well though :)

Today is is about 25°C , wonderful weather, just perfect.

Tell me a little about yourself, have a coffee and make yourself at home! Have a great party!

Ps: with the redesign of this blog I am thinking of re-opening This Month's Mama so if you would like to get your spot here for a month in a well viewed position let me know! Ds :)

The new healthy me

2008-03-14T14:22:00.000-03:00

This year is a very promising year I have to say. I started the year with some good job offers which is always nice. Then I read the wonderful book Love and Logic and have finally started to enjoy parenthood a little more. Not that I didn't enjoy it before but I have to say I was a little tired of the screaming monster I had her at home.

And now I have decided to become that healthy person I know I am but have been too lazy to take care of. I have let working take up my time and have not invested time in myself, hey even finding time to brush my teeth is hard, then something must be wrong right? I never take the time to drink a full cup of water when I do drink water and today I said to myself that it doesn't even take one minute to drink one small cup of water so why don't I try to make the most of that minute and relax while I drink it?

I also went to leave some fabric to one of my DH's clients who live two blocks away and after that I took a nice litte walk around the neighborhood. It was very nice but I could feel it made me tired. But I won't let that stop me, I will take an extra round now in the afternoon before I go to pick up my son. His nursery is about 2,5km from here, back and forth, so it is a short walk.

And my internet isn't orking either so this is posted from an internetcafé with a wonderful internet speed but horribly uncomfortable chairs to sit in.

Well it's Friday and that means Family time. We haven't got anything planned but I know what I will be doing if my Internet is working; work! :)

I'm a mother again

2008-03-13T15:09:00.003-03:00

Oh yes, I am surely a mother again. Although not the kind of mother you'd expect me to be but a birdy mother. I am what you would call a substitute, one of our birds had a little baby on Saturday and she isn't feeding him so that's my job at the moment.

We knew she didn't take care of her babies before this one was born because the last one she had died after a day and we observed her and she didn't feed the baby so we didn't want the same thing to happen to this little one. So I have been getting up in the middle of the night to feed the little one and let me tell you; it is just like having a little baby. Except for the aching (if you know what I mean :) )

And except for that I am terribly busy at the moment. I have tried hopping around for the party but with this speed that I am on it's difficult to visit as many blogs as I'd like.

Choriço had a soar throat in the beginning of the week but he seems to be fine now. Thankfully I didn't have to take him to the Doc.

Oh and RS Designs have had a face lift! We are very happy about the new brighter look!

Now I just wish the weather could clear up a little, it's been raining the whole week...

Love and Logic Day 2

2008-02-21T15:03:00.001-03:00

So yesterday started the Love and Logic experiment. like they say in the book;

Love and Logic parents look forward for their child to misbehave so that every mistake can turn into a learning opportunity.

So yesterday when Choriço didn't listen to me on the way home from nursery I simply told him; You are not listening to me, when we get home you will have to choose if you want to go to your room for some quiet time or if you want to give me a toy. He started fuzzying but I said; if you start to fuzz you will have to give me another toy or stay longer in your room. He stopped.

When we got home I said to him that because he didn't obey me he would now have to choose. Of course he couldn't but started crying so I took him to his room, asked if he wanted the door opened or closed and left him with the door closed. He didn't cry much and soon came out calm. We repeated this process three time during the night. And boy did he scream. :) But I stayed calm and we had a nice night.

Today is the day for the granny test. The granny test is basically going to granny's and leave when I say so. If he doesn't listen he will not go there tomorrow and play with his cousin. We are having serious trouble with him refusing to leave her house. No more of that!

I am mentoring and preparing myself several times a day by reading the fact sheet I made. Somehow I actually feel calm, I can do this! :)

The Love and Logic experiment

2008-02-20T15:48:00.001-03:00

One of the absolutely best books I have read in my life, and I have read many, is not a fiction book but a book about how to raise a happy child.

My friend lent me the book " Love and Logic Magic- Practical Parenting from birth to six years" by Jim and Charles Fay. You don't raise a happy child by doing everything it wants but actually the opposite; by setting limits and giving choices. I could probably talk myself warm about this book but instead I refer you to their Love&Logic website. There you can find more information as well as articles.

I read this book during the weekend, I like it so much that I translated it into Portuguese for my husband, no not the whole book but around 10 pages. This is to make sure that he understands it as well and we can work together. He has yet to read it but we are starting it today. I also made a sheet with the basics to put on the fridge as well as a worksheet for us to record how it goes.

I got even more triggered to do this after I spoke to Choriço's caretaker at the nursery. Reason I asked was because he kept saying he was "put in the corner" for misbehaving but he kept saying he didn't do anything. So this morning I asked her when I left him there. (Note that Choriço was clinging during the conversation holding my leg tightly, something that rarely happens, he didn't say one word-very unusual) She said that he raises his voice all the time and doesn't obey and that is why he is warned and if he doesn't obey he has to sit and watch without participating.

When we finished talking Choriço really held me tight and I asked if he was embarrassed and he said yes. Which I actually take as a good sign. Afterwards I told my husband what she had said and how Choriço had reacted, I think even he understand we need to start putting some limits here at home.

So from today our New life with Practical Parenting and Love and Logic starts. It will be hard, oh I am preparing myself, but I hope it will all be worth it. Or I am sure. i will try and keep you updated as to how it goes.

Do you have any Love and logic parenting experience? Please tell me!

I will always remember Feb 14 2008

2008-02-14T08:04:00.000-03:00

I will always remember this morning, February 14^th. It was the morning when I woke up without little Choriço beside me.

No, nothing bad has happened, in fact something wonderful happened. It is sad but wonderful. Choriço decided to sleep in his own bed yesterday. At first we thought he was just kidding around but he insisted. My DH tried to go and get him three times but each time he woke up and got mad and went back to his own bed.

I told my husband that it was better to leave him there so I arranged the bed and put blankets on the floor incase he would fall off. I was worried he would fall off because he normally sleep next to the wall in our room but in his room the wall is on the opposite side. But this morning when I went to wake him up he was sleeping next to wall so I guess it didn’t matter too much.

He said he will sleep in his room tonight as well. We’ll see about that *lol*

Wow, my baby is getting big!

(It was nice to have more space in bed though… but don’t tell anyone I said so) J

A very productive weekend

2008-02-11T12:23:00.000-03:00

As I told you in my last post I had a little surprise for my husband when he got home. It took forever for him to leave the TV and go in to the room. I was of course quiet, oh that was hard, but once he got up and opened the closed door I was behind him waiting for a reaction.

And it wasn't that bad. The colors didn't really turn out the way I wanted (hmm that sounds familiar) but it looks nice. And I managed to convince my husband that lilac would be really nice. So now during the weekend we have been painting the rest of the room. Of course I was thrilled when my husband said he actually likes it!

So now our room is light pink, dark pink and lilac. Of course I will show you photos, stay put!

We also did some shopping. We bought a wardrobe and a shelving unit on Saturday. So now we will have lots of space and my little work at home corner will be even better. I can finally remove all my paperwork from the wardrobe and put it away at a more appropriate place. Thankfully! The wardrobe and shelving unit should arrive on Wednesday, can't wait!

My house is finally starting to feel like a real home, our home. I love that!

Chock in Pink

2008-02-08T12:05:00.000-03:00

A chock is what my husband will have when he comes home today. Although I hope it will be a pleasant chock I am not fully sure it will be...

The chock will be pink and lilac.

You see I am just painting our bedroom and my husband has no idea. The paint was actually for the living room. My husband bought white paint and extra color so we could get the color we liked without spending too much. Well the orange turned salmon and the red turned pink. I think that next time we will just buy the right color from the start. :)

And this morning I started thinking that it would be really nice with a nice lilac color in our room. I mean we have a big bucket of pink paint, we can't just throw it out. Well I am only painting one wall but boy is that enough! The wall has some green paint on it, since we painted the house and wanted to see what color our bedroom could be, and the pink won't cover it!

So I have to paint over the spot a million times before it is covered I think. I have also decided that it would be nice to have two big stripes on the wall, one darker pink and one lighter pink. The pink turned out to be lighter than it looks so my coloring isn't going according to plan. Because time is not on my hand I am feeling slightly stressed for the paint to dry so I can continue with the rest of the wall.... Thanks to whoever invented the hairdryer, it's handy in times like these :)

OK you are allowed to shake your heads now, thats OK. :)

I'll show you before and after when it's finished, now pray my husband will like it ...

Only a few days to go

2008-02-01T17:29:00.000-03:00

Next week the long holiday for Choriço will be over. When his holiday is over I will have to start working again. I am already working but not as much as I'd like to actually.

And I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to working more and learning more. Last year was a very good year for me, I learned a lot and hope to learn even more this year. This is the year when I will be organized and effective.

Only a few days to go.. and then I will miss my baby during the day but instead I hope to spend more time with him when he is at home. The baby is in fact too big to be called a baby, next year he will start pre-school here. Help! Time flies too soon.

And when he goes back to nursery; you can be sure I will be blogging away! :)

Giveaway time!! Win a blog design!

2008-01-28T12:50:00.001-03:00

It is time for the quarterly giveaway over at Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer. The giveaway has only been on for 2 hours but there are already + 220 participants!

And of course I and Revka are participating wanting to make a blogger happy! Revka is giving away a Silver Design Package (value$60) and I am giving away a Gold Design package (value $100).

And if that wasn't enough, Qtpie is giving away a Silver Blog Design package from me as well! That triples your chances of winning a make-over for your blog!

We also offer $10 discount off any purchase above $20 to those who leaves a comment on the giveaways! Your discount can be combined with our subscriber monthly discounts as well if you are a subscriber to our free newsletter.

Best of luck!

I almost got them back...- Trust/respect/honesty

2008-01-23T19:14:00.000-03:00

Do you remember when I posted about my shoes that I never saw again? Well I almost got them back today. 4 months later. No phone call, nothing.

Monday night my friend and her hubby came around unexpectedly. The first thing she says is that she is sorry about the shoes. Of course I said "never mind". What was I supposed to say?

When they were about to leave she promised she would come by today and at the same time return the shoes. I asked her several times if she was really coming by and not just saying so pointing out that I would expect her. I also asked what time she would come to stress it extra that I would be waiting for her. She would come after lunch and if she couldn't make it she would definitely call me.

Well lunch came and went and now it is 8pm and I haven't heard anything. I made sure to stress around a little extra so that I would not have to think about everything that needs to be done when she was here.

And you know what, it is not about the shoes. It is about respect.

Why do I feel like a silly fool expecting her to come? Why did I think to myself " I bet she won't come"? I don't want to think that way about people, I want to be able to trust that someone who makes a promise keeps it. I try and try and try really hard to not believe people when they say something but I do, knowing in my heart that whatever the person promises will not happen in 99 times out of 100.

And it makes me so sad.

It is not the first time my friend has stood me up so to say, she does it all the time. And I tell you what, I really want to believe that if she had done something like this outside of Brazil, Europe for example, that person would not trust her easily again. And I really feel like saying that to her, to tell her that I am sick'n tired of her attitude and she needs to grow up and show some bl**dy respect to people! Especially her friends or those she wants to be her friends. She keeps saying she wants us to become better friends, well with his attitude she won't get closer that's for sure.

And to make it even sadder this is a Christian woman with strong beliefs, that makes me sad. I don't recall that it says in the bible that white lies are accepted or for you not to keep your promises.

Luke 16:10 - "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

"An honest life shows respect for God;
a degenerate life is a slap in his face." Proverbs 14:2 The Message Bible.

WFMW- A spray bottle saved my life

2008-01-23T18:54:00.003-03:00

This is my first time in participating in Works for me Wednesday If you have never participated go to Shannon's blog and have a look at some mighty good tips from moms.

One of the best things I have bought in a long time is a small spray bottle. I got so fed up with the cleaning product that I normally buy because you had to squeeze like crazy and nothing came out of it. Then I started thinking about how good it would be to have a spray bottle instead. I bought two small bottles, one for water (to use when I iron) and another for cleaning.

In this little bottle I actually mix already bought cleaning products with water and alcohol. Now I know this might not be the most environmental friendly way of cleaning actually but I find it incredibly useful. The amount of product is about 1 part products and 8 parts water and it still cleans everything! The alcohol helps to remove fat stains etc. By diluting the products it lasts longer.

What I do is that I buy a cheap cleaning product and use that. I spray it on everything and it cleans off wonderfully and it smells fresh and clean. I would say this little spray bottle has saved my life, especially my mentality, as I don't have to fret over cleaning products that don't keep the standard and I can easily clean my home.

More WFMW here.

30 minutes = 5 hours?

2008-01-22T15:22:00.000-03:00

At the moment I am so frustrated and angry that I could just go and throw something at someone if that was an option. I had some work to do that I wanted to finish off early so that I could spend some quality time with my son. In my world I would finish at 12 am.

It was all going according to schedule until 11.30am when my son says he wants to go to his Granny's. Sure, I left my things on the side and took him there only to be told he didn't want to stay there any longer. I tried to convince him to stay for just 20 minutes but it was impossible. Now it is 4.30pm and it is only now that I am able to finish my work.

I was already going crazy when all of a sudden an image that I needed for an header all of a sudden is no longer at the stock photo site. So an hour later after searching like crazy for this image I had to email the client telling her to find another image. After I thought I had survived that I receive another email from someone else with some rather unpleasant news really pissing me off.

Caramba! I am working my a$$ off here basically trying to get it all together and it's just not working. Grrrrrrrrr.

Now my MIL just came by and managed to convince Choriço to go over to hers for a few minutes, she tempted him with chewing gum. So now I need to go to the internet cafe and send off a contract for a job, hoping nothing will go wrong there as well.

So tomorrow I do hope that 30 minutes won't turn into 5 hours.

Thanks for listening, I do feel better now :)

Where did my day go??

2008-01-14T19:29:00.000-03:00

It is almost 9pm and I am still on the computer! I made a promise to myself that I would not sit at night but today has been totally impossible to get anything done! Choriço has not left me alone for one minute! Simple things have taken me ages to do!

I took him over to my MIL but he didn't want to stay there so I didn't get any time to catch up on things. I still have a pile of laundry to do and a kitchen that is waiting for my magical touch and lets not forget about real work as well. *lol*

I hope tomorrow will be a more productive day.

PS: Don't forget the daily leads at Making A Happy Life. DS.

With so many ideas my head becomes empty

2008-01-11T15:42:00.001-03:00

I am one of those that once I get my mind set up for something I just start spinning on the ideas and knows no limit to what can happen. I believe everything is possible as long as you are determined.

Well now I have a new year launch for Making A Happy Life and I have so many ideas that I'm not even sure where to begin. *lol* With so many ideas my head becomes empty.

Starting from Monday there are great changes coming up for MAHL. So if you are a WAHM or a "wannabe wahm" then I hope it will become a resource for you. There will be daily leads, fitness tips, organizing tips and much more. Read more here.

Now ideas are great to have but I still need to clean my house so I better get going before DH comes home....

If I were to make New Year promises...

2008-01-09T10:03:00.000-03:00

If I were to make New Year promises I would of course wish highly unlikely things to happen. I mean; we all want o promise things so badly but how many promises do we keep? Well if I were to make promises for this year it would be something like this;

This year I will: (not)
* Be this wonderful mother who doesn't raise her voice more than twice a day.
* Play with my son all the time
* Patience will be my middle name
* Funny Mom will be my second middle name
* Have a spotless home
* Make cleaning an enjoyable task
* Happily pick up toys fifty times per day without complaining
* Change my voice to a sweet Betty voice instead of this nagging Linda voice I have started to become familiar with.
* Definitely make a birthday cake for my son on his birthday.
* Have dinner ready when hubby comes home every night
* Iron the laundry as soon as it is dry instead of seeing a big pile of clothes on the bed for days

Now will this happen? I doubt it. I am no perfect mother or wife, never have been and never will be. But I can improve and the above list is what I will try to improve. Now I'm just not sure where to begin.... *lol*

Holiday's over

2008-01-07T19:08:00.000-03:00

So the holiday is over from today. Today was the day hubby went back to work, it felt really strange to see him in his work clothes again. And it has only been two weeks. :)

How was the holiday? Well I can't really say it has been a holiday. I had several projects left to finish and then me and Revka had the "After Christmas giveaway" at RS Design where we gave away 14 headers in total. I have gotten some writing offers that keeps my busy as well which I am very grateful for. But it has hardly been a holiday.

The Christmas spirit has been next to nil and I am dreading to take away the only Christmas decorating we have, a cute Santa stocking. Once I remove that it means Christmas is really over, or actually never came here.... Well there will be another one this year right :) *lol*

So now it's back into blogging business and I am looking forward to have more time this year to socialize on my favorite blogs.

Hope you all had a nice Holiday!

I wish you all a Happy 2008!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2007-12-23T16:02:00.001-03:00

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Take a few moments to reflect on this year and prepare yourself for next!

I am taking a mini blog break and will be back in January! But let me share a little secret with you or give you a little Christmas gift, if you want a new header for your blog keep an eye on RS design in the next couple of days!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New year!

A week full of excitement

2007-12-16T17:44:00.001-03:00

I have always dreamt of having a nice house, nicely decorated and cozy. Well our house hasn’t exactly been like that since we moved in here. We have talked about how we would like it to be but as we haven’t had any money to do anything it hasn’t been possible.

Now three years later it seems as if it is finally changing. This week we have done more around the house than we have in a long time. Or that is; that has made it nice and cozy. In three years time we have; changed the outside tiles from old horrible brown ones to new fresh light colored ones, we have changed the gate as it was falling apart basically, we have also had to make sure the house didn’t fall apart and lay a new ground on a few places on the yard, we have painted inside, moved the living room and no finally we have painted our house!

And the last two things are what have made the biggest difference and they have happened just now within a week, which is fantastic! From horrible looking yellow our house has changed to a fantastic green house. We started to pain yesterday around 4pm and finished around 10 pm. But we still have the back left which will be another few hours. I have advised hubby to do it today as it is me who is doing the little bits and pieces and can finish that tomorrow instead. It’s either that or wait until next Saturday. But at the moment hubby is taking a little afternoon nap so it will have to wait a little longer.

It is so nice to have a new fresh house! Tomorrow I’ll show you before and after pictures! Have a nice Sunday!

I got a new house!

2007-12-11T11:45:00.003-03:00

Well almost, it feels like it anyway. *lol*

Me and hubby, OK I, were talking about how to move the computer to the dining room, which is just by the living room, so that I can be closer to the family at night and don't have to run back and forth like a headless chicken all the time. That was when I came up with this fabulous idea, and I have no idea where it came from; "what if we move the TV rack to the dining room and the dining table into the living room?".

You would have thought that I would say " why don't we switch places of the two instead". Well you see we have talked about rearranging it so many times but we have never talked about moving the TV rack. Somehow its place has always been where it was before, so we have moved sofas etc but never the TV rack. And once I said that it was like "Open Sesame" and we realized it was a great idea!

Hubby liked the idea so much that he bought an extra TV cable so we could move the TV and started drilling and went on top of the roof and all that "man stuff" that I have no idea how to do. My husband is great once he gets started but to get him started can take days or weeks or even months of talking into but this time I didn't need to say anything!

So we moved the living room and now it all of a sudden looks and feels so much cozier! The thought is that we will move my computer desk to the part of the dining room where the TV was and that will be my little mini office corner. Perfect and I can't wait to move it! It will be so much better! I am walking around with a smile on my face actually. Silly me. :)

Now I do have a little problem, the sofa. It was originally red but now it is starting to look more grey/black than red. I have been thinking of hiring someone to clean it for me but I am a little frugal so I want to try and do it myself first. The only thing is that the covers don't come off. I can't even remove the cushions, of course had I checked this when I bought the sofa I would never have bought it... Lesson learned for the next sofa, which I won't be buying for a very long time..

Any of you ladies have a good frugal tips for cleaning a dirty sofa? I have heard baking powder is good for many things, maybe that can help?

I did find a great cleaning site at The Online Maid, but I can't find anything for sofas...
Updated: I found a wonderful Frugal cleaning site: Naturally Frugal Cleaning. Wonderful articles. I am still looking for tips for my sofa though...

That time fo the month again...

2007-12-08T08:54:00.000-03:00

No it's not that time of the month, it's time for the monthly 2 hours agony that I do with pleasure. The monthly shopping. :)

It goes like this:

10.30: I leave little Choriço at my MIL and take the bus to the supermarket.
11.10: I try to find a trolley that is not too big and that rolls like a normal functional trolley should.
11.15: I start doing my shopping trying to be as fast as I can without stressing myself.
12.20: my husband shows up. Calm.
12.30: he starts saying: Linda hurry up! Not very calm.
12.40: we have argued for the first time in the supermarket.
12.50: we are probably standing in the line to the checkout.

I don't know what it is with men, why do they stress so much in the supermarket? My husband always stresses and starts to irritate me leaving me frustrated and annoyed as well. And we always manage to get annoyed with each other.

Even my MIL has said that she will never go shopping with my husband again because he makes her stressed.

See, I try to do most shopping without him but I always wait for him to get the frozen stuff and the meat. Which makes sense really. And somehow he always feels stressed in the supermarket with me.

Well it's 10;04 now, I better get ready or I will be late, we wouldn't want that now would we!?! :) * seeing before me how my husband shows up and sees that I haven't even done half the shopping.*

Does your husband like to do the shopping, any supermarket incidents you want to share? :)

And I am putting this under "dreadful house chores" as it is a chore, it need to be done :)

New management

2007-12-07T12:59:00.001-03:00

I went to a meeting last night at my sons nursery. They are changing the management of the nursery. It has been a Pastor and his wife that has been in charge of it until now and now an art organization is taking over. Well I wasn't too impressed with their speeches that they made, a bit too *sorry I'm so shy blablabal*for my liking but they all seemed nice.

Issues that were discussed; the uniforms. The nursery have always ordered their uniforms from a wahm who makes just uniforms. This year they decided to not do that and use another company and sell them at the nursery. That caused a big problem for many parents as their kid only had one uniform. And of course as you can imagine, kids get dirty! *lol*

Second issue: What time can I pick up my kid?
Last meeting we were told that we shouldn't pick up our kids before 4.30pm as then it could be seen as if "we didn't have anything better to do, ie not working". Of course that is an absolutely silly rule but you have to follow orders as well... The new management said " the more time your kids stay with you the better". Great" We liked to hear that. They were talking about scheduling special activities in the morning instead of in the afternoon. makes sense to me, a kid is much more alert in the morning.

3rd issue; If the pastor is leaving and the management is changing; what about my kids teacher?? We were informed that the current teachers can stay if they want to. After having said that they said that actually it depends if they are qualified. They need to have a higher pedagogic degree to work there. That could be an issue actually and we (hubby and I) are thinking that perhaps my sons teacher doesn't have that. Time will tell, I hope she does though.

Well those were the big issues that the parents asked. There were about 15 parents there out of 98 kids! Where were the rest???!?!?

I went up and asked afterwards if they were changing their learning system, the education, in any way. I thought that was an important question but no one asked about it and the new management didn't raise the question. I was told it would not change. And of course I informed them where they could find the lady who makes the uniforms. I am such a good parent.... haha.

I hope everything will be OK in the end, it's in Gods hands and I am sure He knows what is best for our kids. But changes are a bit scary. :)

Wordless Wednesday- Winnie the half eared bear

2007-12-05T09:12:00.000-03:00

Poor Winnie ended up in a fight with the dog and lost half his right ear.

More WW here!

Happy Holiday Prices reduced!

2007-11-29T08:39:00.001-03:00

We are having a special over at RS Design because of the holidays! It's time to give your blog a Happy Holiday Look. Pre-made Headers from $15!

Hurry up and get yours, there are only two of each header! Make your blog happy this year and get that Christmas feeling! Additionally, if you purchase a holiday template, you will receive $10 off your next purchase from RS Designs! How does that sound!

Don't see any you like? More headers to come! Remember to sign up for our subscriber letter and get special offers only for subscribers!

Technorati Tags: blog design, headers, templates, special offer, happy holiday offer, RS Design

Thursday Thirteen 13 things I need to do today

2007-11-29T07:11:00.001-03:00

My life is way to stressed at the moment but that is OK, I like it as well.

I have a lot to do today:

1: I need to blog! Yes it is a need actually. Good and bad.

2: ~~Go walking with my friend as I do every Thursday.~~ Not happening anymore, she just called and said she was sick. Poor her. Now she called again, we are walking, better get ready.

3: I need to clean up the house a bit and make sure my hubby get s happy when he comes home.

4: I need to go into town and buy Christmas decoration and some other necessary stuff. I really don't want to, I don't like to go into town and I have lots to do so no time. But I have to so..

5: Once back from town after stressing around I need to stress a bit more here at home I have lots of ironing to do. I have closed my eyes every time I walk pass the mountain of clothes pretending it's not there and I'll do it later.... later may never come I have realized. Better do it now.

6: I have several blog designs waiting to be finished and some waiting to be started. I love blog design but it does take a lot of time.

7: OK by this time it's probably time for some coffee. Highlight of the day.

8: I need to plan a few posts for the 31 Days to A New You challenge that will start on Daily Power Walk the 1st of December. Are you getting stressed about Christmas and New Year? Start the New Year with a new you. 31 Days and you will be fit for fight for New Year.

9: I need to do a pedicure, my feet are crying telling me they look awful. But don't imagine I will go somewhere to do it, I will do it at home by myself. That's much quicker than if I would go for a real pedicure.

10: When Choriço comes home I need to check his hair for lice. Not fun at all but necessary. Can anyone tell me about the biological order here, who eats the lice? Every animal serves a purpose right? I don't get this.

11: I need to visit some of my forums, it's been a long time.

12: Ok now this blogging and design thing is starting to repeat themselves. I haven't got many things to do but the things I have to do takes a long time.

13: I am trying to figure out a way for me not to go into town... I need a car! Taking the bus takes ages... well I guess first I would need a driving license :)

What's on you list of things to do today?

More Thursday Thirteen here!

Technorati Tags: Thursday Thirteen, 13 things I need to do today, pedicure, fitness, coffee, lice, children, car

On bad terms

2007-11-29T07:10:00.001-03:00

I don't wish any bad to anyone but to the dog who keeps peeing on my gate every day: Could you PLEASE STOP that!?!

What annoys me even more is the owner standing just a few houses away and not caring at all. And what can I do? Go and tell my neighbor off? I don't think so.

And it feels like it's just one of those things among many that are accepted. And I believe that if this was my dog in Sweden I had already had one or two visits from the angry neighbor who is getting his gate peed on. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what I believe.

So I am on bad terms with this dog, not with the neighbor though even though I think they should keep the dog leashed. Well well...

Technorati Tags: dogs, neighbors, community, Sweden, Brazil

Yes I will buy everything!

2007-11-26T17:12:00.001-03:00

- Mom.

- Mom!

- MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Stressed mother rushing to check if her son is in need or what has happened.

- Mom, can you buy this for me?

* Mother looking at the TV and sees that there is a commercial for toys on.

- Yes of course honey, I'll buy it.

- Mom can you buy this as well *counts up several toys he wants*

- Yes of course.

- And mom, can you buy.....*more toys*

-Yes! I will buy everything!!

*Mother starting to look and feel a little frustrated.

*Mother leaves the room quickly.

This scene repeats itself at least 10 times per day. Mother says she will buy everything to keep her little star happy but end up not buying everything. Bad mother. *lol* Someone tell me this is just a phase or I will end up with a "give me give me give me" son. I believe it's just a phase....* crossing my fingers* :)

Technorati Tags: kids behaviour, mom, mother, child, toys, patience

A morning at the Doctors

2007-11-20T12:27:00.001-03:00

So 6.20 this morning I got up and made my morning coffee. There is no way I will leave my house without my morning cup! I am still sticking to the small detox schedule so only 2 cups. Although I didn't even drink that but only one. Well it was enough and I didn't have more time. Here is a recap of what happened at the med center;

6.40 I am standing in the line to the medical center. There are about 10-15 people infront of me. 6.50 I start texting my mother saying happy belated name day. In Sweden each day in the almanac has a name and yesterday was ours. And I never use my cellphone except for when I go to the doctor to know what time it is and that is a good time to text my mother. 6.55 a cochroach comes flying next to me and scares half of the line. 7.00 The doors open and people start going inside. 7.15 I tell the nurse I want to see the Doctor and I am told to sit and wait. 8.40 A nurse calls my name and eventualy tells em she can't find my personal map with my details. 8.50 she takes my pressure and tell me to wait further. Now Im inside the medical area, before I was sitting in the waiting room. 9.40 the doctor calls me and asks what is wrong with me. Gives me antibiotics for my sinuses. 9.50 I leave his room and head to the pharmacy to get the medicine of which they didn't have everything he had prescribed. 10.00 I leave the medical center and head home.

Well that was "only" 3 hours, sometimes it takes even longer and you are not even sure you will get seen.

How is it when you go to the Doctor? Do you have to wait for three hours to get seen? If not, would you accept that is the way it is or would you complain?

Technorati Tags: doctor, medical center, appointment, waiting time, Brazilian medical centers

Did I speak too soon?

2007-11-20T12:07:00.001-03:00

Hmmm the PR checker shows 0 now? And I was so happy to have at least a 2... Well well... PR or no PR I'll keep blogging anyway :)

Detox day

2007-11-19T11:47:00.000-03:00

This morning I had problems waking up the little man. He refused to get dressed and I had to carry him out to the car while talking about buying ice-cream. I am a horrible mother fooling my child ;)

He has his days when he just refuse to go to nursery and I feel sorry for him and let him stay at home. Those days occur about once a month so its not too often. But today it was impossible to let him stay at home. I have tons of things to do and have absolutely no time to "waste" Of course that would not be a waste of time but I would not be able to fully attend to him and his needs.

I'm on a detox day today as well. I really should cut down on coffee. Well this morning I only had 2 cups instead of three, a fruit salad for breakfast and now I've just had a salad for lunch. And no more coffee today. I am drinking licorice tea instead. It is supposed to be good for your sinuses so thats mainly why I'm drinking it.

Why am I on a detox? Well I have not been feeling too great the last few weeks and I have some kind of allergy or something thats not helping and my sinuses are telling me I need to go to the doctor. So tomorrow I will have to spend some time at the Med center. Horrible thought. It takes hours and the only way to be seen is to stand in a mile long line from 6,30 in the morning. And then you might get seen around 9,30. Horrible isn't it! So today I am trying to help my body the more natural way. No sugar or bread today. We'll see if it has any effect. It must be doing something good thats for sure.

Well going to the Doc is free but I do wish I had the money to pay for medical insurance. Thats something to put up on the wish list for next year.

Back to normal

2007-11-13T14:18:00.001-03:00

I feel as I've been living in a box for the last week. With all the rain and storms that's been going on here I've somehow lost track of things. "What day is it? What date is it? When is the rain going to stop? I need to work!"- some of the questions thats been going on in my head.

The rain meant no internet connection and frequent power failures. Sure it's nice to sit in the dark with a candle but only for so long.

Well now it's not raining any longer but now I'm getting sick again. OK nothing big, only a cold but still... I feel as if I'm walking around in a thick fog. I'm not sure if the coffee is helping or if it has the opposite effects and I'm not going to try and find out. If I cut down I know it will be worse.

Choriço didn't feel too good either this morning so he is at home with me as well. So everything I had planned for today has been postponed.

Yes I can make Play dough!

2007-11-06T12:17:00.000-03:00

Oh yes, yesterday I discovered that I am a real mother. A real funny mommy knows how to make play though. Or at least that’s some kind of pedestal thing that I have in my mind that a real mother does.

On Sunday evening two girls came over to make some tests on Choriço, they are studying childcare and wanted to know how he associates quantities etc. He did pretty well if you ask me. One of the exercises was to say which line had the most balls. They would put two lines of cut balls with different colors in front of Choriço and would then ask him which lines had the most balls. He responded that the line which was closes to him had the most balls all the time, even when it clearly didn’t. And apparently this is all normal. Give it a try with your kid and see what he/she answers.

Another thing was to separate pieces of paper but out into big circles, small circles, small squares and big squares. You can separate them by color, sized or shape.

And the one of the exercises was to play with play dough so one of the girls had brought her own flour pre-made play dough that she made while they were playing with something else. Of course this got a lot of attention and was extra fun as she had added yellow coloring to one piece.

Well last night we went to my mother in law to have dinner and when we came back Choriço had forgotten the play dough over at her house and got devastated and started crying that he wanted play dough. Being a nice mother as I am, read= all I wanted was for him to stop crying, I immediately went into the kitchen to make him some.

It can’t be that hard I thought to myself remembering the girl doing it. I didn’t have any quantities of the ingredients so I did it all by myself. If you are as clueless about it as I was then here’s how you do it:

Play dough:

1 cup (or more) of flour
2tsp salt (many recipes calls for more but its not necessary and probably better if your kid decides to eat it)
Water
More flour
Coloring of your choice

In a bowl combine the flour, salt and coloring, add so much water that you can easily stir it. Then add more flour and when it’s not too sticky take it up on the table and knead it. You will do some kneading for about 10minutes to make sure its not sticky. Add flour continuously.

Tips:
Don’t add too much flour, the play dough we buy can be too hard but this one will be softer and stay fresh for several days. Store it in a container or plastic bag. If you do not have any coloring at home, don’t fear! Use what you have, I added red squash (the drinkable kind not the vegetable) and made red play dough instead.

I might just put this on my CV; “skills: knows how to make play dough”.

Basic things for a basic house

2007-11-04T13:05:00.000-03:00

Yesterday me and hubby were cleaning up in our storage room. I then remembered that I need some string to tie the washing machine whose with. But in the same second I also remembered that we didn't have any string.

That made me a bit annoyed because if there is something basic that every home should have it's actually string. I mentioned it to my hubby and he didn't answer but said: what do you want it for? That doesn't matter I replied, the thing is we are supposed to have string at home.

Of course he has a solution for everything so he said; "well you can just cut this off (pointing at some of my laundry string where I hang my laundry) an use that". I knew he would do that! I continued to explain my point and said that in every home string should be included in the home basic essentials.

But then of course the string would just be another thing that would be visible as we haven't got any real garage cabinets for our things. That is another thing I think every house should have. Storage cabinets to hide store (or hide if you want to) all the things that just causes a mess in the storage room. Of course my husband has a solution for that as well: store everything on the loft.

I however would prefer real cabinets to sort everything. Preferably with boxes inside with names on them so everything goes into the right place. That's what I call organized!

I love my husband and I am happy he is so creative but I'm more basic and appreciate a organized home. And he says I'm not organized.. hmmm somehow I don't agree.

Thunder coming in

2007-10-30T10:35:00.000-03:00

Yesterday it was really hot! And I mean hot! It was almost 40°C! At some parts of Brazil it was 42°C. Apparently there is some hot waves or something coming from Bolivia, can't remember exactly now, that was not supposed to come over Brazil at all. But here they are!

Its quite dark outside and it1s only 11.40am and I can hear the thunder coming. When the thunder comes and the rain fall it means that soon I will be out of power. We always have a power failure when the stormy winds and heavy rain comes. Well it doesn't have to be a heavy storm, let it rain and the power will go out. *sigh*

Hopefully that won1t happen today as I got loads of things to do. And it means I will have to pick up Choriço when it´s raining. Not funny as I go by foot.

I might have to turn on the lights soon, its getting so dark I can hardly see the keyboard. And then I'll get the candles just in case...

Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway

2007-10-30T10:33:00.000-03:00

Whoho! Shannon from Rocks in my dryer has arranged another great bloggy giveaway. This time it's Fall Y'all Bloggy Giveaway!

And this is your chance to win some great prizes with over 400 giveaways!

Of course me an Revka are participating! We are giving away blog design to 3 lucky winners! So for your chance to spice up your blog hop over to RS Design and leave a comment on either post that you want to win or why not both?

But there is something else I want you to pay attention to; you might be missing your chance to win some of the prizes you have signed up for!

Simply: Read the instructions on how to be eligable for a prize at the blog you are signing up to! This is something that happened in the Summer Bloggy giveaway. Read the instructions to win! For example: " Win a custom made bag, to win leave a comment telling me what your faorite flower is"

Readers comments: "Oh plese sign me up", "Count me in", "´I'm in", " I love gerberas, thank you for this wonderful giveaway".

Who do you think will win?? The one who said she loves gerberas. It is up to the blog owner to chose a winner and if she/he establish some simple rules they should be followed.

Just a simple advice for you not to miss your chance to win something really nie. At RS Design the only thing we ask of you is to leave a comment. Nothing more. So if your blog needs a make over head over to RSD now! If you sign up for the newsletter you still have a great chance to get a make over for a very reasonable price as subscribers get a big discount!

Technorati Tags: fall yall giveaway, giveaways, prizes, blog design, rs design, free design, blog make over

Spice up my kitchen!

2007-10-29T09:35:00.000-03:00

I so badly want to spice up my kitchen a bit but I have no idea how to.

At the moment we have those normal white cabinets but I have been thinking how it would be to have metal cabinets in it. Then I could definitely say that my kitchen is glossy and shiny! I think it looks very nice when its shiny.

Could look quite good actually. Definitely a change.

The only thing would be that I would have tiny fingers all over the place= more cleaning for me...
But if you don´t mind that then maybe a glossy shiny kitchen is something for you?
Like your kitchen? Tell me why! Leave a comment!

And UP we go!

2007-10-28T15:49:00.000-03:00

Whoooooooho!

The PR (down)update may have been bad for some but for this blog it has gone UP!

I have the Goodle bar in Firefox and it said pr2, surely tha´s not right I htought and decided to check.
Here are the results:

PR checker.info: PR 3
PageRank Checker: PR 2 and 3
PR Checker.net: PR2
Smart Pagerank.com: PR 3
Check pagerank.com: 3

Can you see it:

Now can PPP and other places please update their system as well??

*Doing th happy dance! Thank you Google*

Crying in the middle of the night

2007-10-28T15:18:00.000-03:00

Last night we saw a film that didn´t end until 01.30. I fell asleep as soon as I put my head on the pillow. 02.30: Choriço wakes up crying.

OK, we have three options to why he is crying: Need to go to the toilet, want to drink water or he is hurting somewhere.

-Sweetie, what´s wrong? Want to go to the toilet?
Crying.
-Sweetie, are you thirsty?
Crying
-Choriço, are you in pain?
Crying.

After some time he tells me he is thirsty. We always have a cup in the bathroom for night emergencies but that cup was not to the little mans satisfaction at all.
OK, I go and get a glass instead of the plastic cup.
NO!
OK, I get another glass, a taller one since he likes those.
NO!

I get the plastic cup again. NO! The crying has now turned into a frenetic screaming.

Now I´m getting quite tired of running back and forth between the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

Daddy helps him to pee and Mommy get the water, he wants tho drink water from the big 2liter water bottle. How was I supposed to understand that???

Now he is still crying so much that he vomits on the floor. Nice.

I clean it up and we go to bed.

I need to rest!

Better safe than sorry challenge

2007-10-26T19:41:00.001-03:00

This is a challenge for all moms! Mayogi is having a challenge for a safer home. When was the last time you actually checked your first aid kit? I know I´m guilty of believing my family will never get hurt but accidents do happen.

That´s why I will participate in Mayogis challenge and update my first aid kit and blog about it!

Update your first take a photo and blog about it. Tell Mayogi and check what others have in their first aid kits and learn from other moms!

I´m definitely in this one!

I´ve been busy

2007-10-23T17:11:00.000-03:00

Unless you are a regular reader to my work at home blog you won´t know that I have just re-designed it. I still got some tweaking left and so but overall it´s finished!
If you take a look and see something that doesn´t look alright please do tell me.

I am also coming down with a cold once again. It´s getting quite annoying this being sick all the time! So tonight I´ll be sipping on hot ginger and lemon tea with basil. Basil is good to clear throats so I´m sure it got some healing ingredients that will be good for me.

Gotta go... dinner is calling... or that is my kithcen is calling me to prepare it...
Have a nice night.

Do you mind giving back my old shoes?

2007-10-18T10:01:00.001-03:00

You can call me fuzzy, greedy or whatever you want but this is something that is annoying me.

About a month ago a friend of mine came by, she spent the day here and while we were walking to nursery to pick up my son one of the straps on her shoes got torn off. So she ouldn´t use the shoe and asked me if I had a pir of shoes to lend her.

First of all I´d like to say that this girl/woman is a shoeoholic. She has like 60 pair of shoes or more. Me, I have 2 pair os sneakers, 2 pair of sandals and 1 pair of high heels. And of course a pair of flip-flops.

Well now I only have one pair of sandals because I lent her the other pair. The pair I lent her were the pair that were most used aka oldest. But they were the pair that I used everyday in order to not use the other pair except for when I needed to go somewhere where more appropriate clothing was needed. This was done in an economical purpose.

I simply have not got the money to go and spend on new shoes all the time.

She came on a Wednesday and said that on Friday she would return them. It has been one month and I´m not likely to get them back, nor has she called me once. What kind of friend is this I´m asking myself. Maybe she is looking at my shoes thinking that surely I don´t want them back but I do! I loved those sandals.

Am I overreacting? Surely doesn´t feel like it.

A relaxing weekend

2007-10-15T10:26:00.000-03:00

This weekend was great! I have hardly looked at the computer, on Saturday I didn´t even touch it! I find that incredible. It was a very nice feeling not having to worry about work or anything like that.

What have I done? Well I can tell you that I have not been sitting with my feet up or just been lazing around. I have cleaned the house. But it has been very relaxing. I have learned that I have serious difficulties to sit and do nothing. I don´t know how many times I have swept the sidewalk outside our house for example. Something that I normally do once a day if I do it that is.
The weekend has been great for me to reflect on my life and my blogging habits.

And I hope that this feeling I´m having at the moment will continue. The inner peace and calm I feel at the moment. We´ll see.

Now I need to go and play with Choriço. It´s also time to clean up the kitchen mess.
Have a great day!

The first day of the weekend

2007-10-12T14:22:00.001-03:00

So far today I have: made 2 different kinds of bread, cleaned the yard, done the laundry, the dishes and lunch.

Now we are on our way to church for some fun games for the kids. Phew. Who said it would be a weekend filled with rest? :) But it feels good.

Have a nice weekend!

A weekend break

2007-10-11T21:03:00.001-03:00

Tomorrow is the Childrens Day here in Brazil. That means that it´s another excuse to have a bank holiday.

So at around twoish we are going to "our" church to participate in the local activities for the kids. It should be fun. Thy are going to close the street just for the event so that will be good. No need to worry about cars and kids.

And of course this means that on Saturday no one works either. Or it depends on the company but my husband won´t. Sunday is a normal day off for everyone and on Monday is Teachers Day so my son is at home from school. So it´s going to be a long weekend here. Nice! I´ve prepared everything I need to prepare, almost, and then it´s buy buy computer for 3 days! Lovely. I might check my emails but don´t expect a reply during the weekend.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Have a nice weekend!