Wednesday 23 December 2009

Almost there....

and still not quiet.
The year is gone.
I know it will be a next couple of very quiet days, at least here in the UK everything closes down for the holiday...and, though in one way I m feeling great and more than acomplished, on the other hand, there is a girl coming visit from Norway and the place is not ready to receive visitors...
I know everyone says it doesn't matter, but in the very core, it matters to me.
And here is where I feel my limitations, my disability.
On top of things this morning, don't know exactly why, maybe because I was distracted thinking I need to call my cousins in Argentina, I took 2 Tramadols too many.
I was sick for a bit, feeling better now, but still not wanting to get out of bed.
I feel that guilt of dirty, untidy house and the need for a shower, still I have no energy to get up.
What I want is to get rid of the guilt.
I know if I saw someone posting the same thing I would say sod the world, no guilt.
It isnt quiet the same with one's own life.
I'm just waiting for some photos to download.
I should probably be saying Merry Xmas and all that, but honestly, it doesn't feel like that now.
May come back later, probably, yup.

Saturday 12 December 2009

The enjoyment of being Grateful....


...can be something to be grateful too.
I have learned in these past few years how many little things one seldom looks into are things to be grateful for, and though I know I am a bit lazy for writing lately, I am more than urged to Thank some (quiet a few actually) people for making my days (our days) brighter, happier, more enjoyable.

First of all, I should get on discovering when people post comments in this blog, as sometimes I only see them if I am looking for them...I promise I will also find out how to receive notifications on when my friends update their blogs....I want to be in yours as much as you are in mine (life , that is!)

Then I feel I should be naming some of the people who make the scrapbooking easier, being the ones who give their amazing talent away in form of freebies, the ones who share their pages with us (not necessarily designers I'm talking about here, but scrappers, ladies and gents who are so inspiring to me) or the ones (stores) who have regular sales @ Euros1, Euros1.50, U$1 or U$2... these are stores I keep coming back and making some important purchases. It make me feel better about taking their freebies, and it makes my scrapping so much beautiful....
I know that, if one has the time and patience, it is possible to scrap your life away without paying a penny, so I have to stop for a minute to Thank profusely Maria, the lady who runs Digifree.
Though my goal isn't taking everything for free (I have bought two programs also in the past couple of months!) it is great to have pages and pages of freebies to choose from, so Thanks Maria for the unique and amazing Digifree, and the designers who give so much amazing stuff away.

Now, there are some sites (often the blog trains) who make it a bit more complicated for people like YoursTrully (over 50, not born with a keyboard in my lap!)to get the goods....some of these sites even annoy me at times...but I have found just a couple of days ago something amazing in one of those (most annoying) sites...
I found a sale of U$1 kits from BelaGipsyDesigns in GottaPixel, another kit by MissErin and another kit called Pinch of This Dash of that, bought them and...guess what? I got a thank you email from each of the designers!
Even if this was an automated response, is a nice touch, and in checking the blogs I discover even more freebies....
Two of the kits are baking/cooking related, so you will be getting some recipes from us.

I cannot start thinking on names to Thank, so I will later make a list and make an official Christmas Thank You card to all these people, but one designer I very recently came across I need to mention right now....
This is a lady called KimB
I did not know she was a designer. I just kept seeing these more than amazing, inspiring pages popping in from time to time in ScrapbookMax and left comments accordingly....only to my surprise find in my inbox there a more than beautiful thank you note, with words so beautiful that made me feel like there is a point on communicating your feelings after all (one gets a bit on a downer side living in the Great Britain Empire, where people communicate better with their animals than their peers)

Not only did she write this beautiful words, but also left me a freebie of hers, with which I made some beautiful Christmas Cards, I ll see to post here if I have time left, but you may have seen them in my FB or even at ScrapbookMax.
This lady has pretty much the style I would love to achieve (imprinting my own signature, of course) so, if you like what I make, have a look at her site by clicking here , you'll be in for a treat.

As I said (many many times by now LOL) I am not terribly inspired to write, but I am producing a lot of pages on scrapping.

I finish today (phewwww!!!!) my Trancoso/Brasil album. If you aren't in my FB and want to have a peak, is here , though in ScrapbookMax the resolution doesn't show all that, is possible to see what I am aiming for.

I have also made (LOoooootS!!!) Christmas cards in both programs and also in Scrapblog, which is where my next step will happen as I am determined to carry on with Sarita's year books, and she finished the play she was in on Thursday, so lots of photos from there need scrapping too..

I will, I promise, come back with a list of these great people who make our time scrapping a wonderful one. check blogs and try being a bit more consistent with everything...but only to think about it I remember I need to empty my shed, sarita 's bedroom and.....oh well, you don't really wanna know.
Like Peggy well said: Life isn't always fair, you can get a splinter even sliding down the rainbow....
but splinters are not about to stop this girl who has taken more than one strong blow from falling of said rainbows....so...see you soon!

Monday 7 December 2009

It is the dawning of .....






...the age of Aquarius?
nah, I was singing that when I was 14.
Now, something it's dowaning in my life.
Most great things, still with some fight (but of course!!!!!) but developments are in place.
I haven't been all that well to write, but will most definitely try to make an effort soon.

There are so many people I would love to write about but at this very moment I'm finishing a few projects.

I'm also making a resolution to keep up with a few people's blogs (yes, YOU! lol)
so, surely *see* you soon.

Now, last but not least, there is my review of the Serif Digital Scrapbooking Artist & DaisyTrail (their website) coming up, probably tomorrow because today...yes, you guessed right. I haven't slept.

What I can do right now is post some layouts so you can see what this *little* program can do...
(no child's play, I have to add...)

so here it goes:

Wednesday 25 November 2009

The web is full of Happy Scrappers....

..maybe the proximity of Xmas, maybe the wonderful feeling of sharing is still there, always, one just need to go in the right direction.
Well, though I haven't been all that well to write too much (and time is short with my humongous Brazil album in the making!), I felt I needed to share these with you, maybe one troubled soul (as much as mine was) will get the same energy, faith and general mood cheer with the amazing stuff I have been (all night) downloading.

First of all, I would like to introduce you (if you have not come across her before, which, if you are an avid scrapper, you may have) to a wonderful, caring,giving, extremely beautiful inside and out and full of talent mum, hard worker, scrapper, designer....
Her name is Michelle and she is the driving force of CraftyScraps
This girl has a gift and she shares it... in her forums you will find at this very moment over 120 Quick Pages for free and, if you, like me, are not big fan of having it done for you, still she has many, many amazing kits, all free, apart from a few kits she sells atthe ScrapbookMax Store .
She even explains us why she gives all these wonderful stuff for free...so you can get to know her a bit more.
So, go pop into the forum, have a chat, no even registration is needed, you will come out feeling invigorated and with a *box* full of scrapping goods...some amazing felt stickers on the Xmas theme are particularly beautiful, there is a full Piano Keys Alpha (so clever, I had though about making something like that but did not occur to me how to) One of the kits that fit the most my scrapping style is the Misty Wire, with which I made the last layout in this page.
There is so much in her site, I'm thinking maybe I should give you time to enjoy it all to the fullest before I go on to the rest of my finds.....but, as I'm here and not sure when the writing fairy will come back with some energy dust....

We all know Digifree, right?
One would have thought it a matter of go and grab, but it isn't always so.
I am not very keen on the blog trains, though I know the kits, alphas, general collaboration stuff is awesome...I hardly have time lately to finish my albums (or I am not in good health, which would mean not in good mood, which will mean no scrapping...oh well, you know me LOL) so I tend to ignore the complicated process and go for the straight forward downloads.
I always, always comment, thank them, and mention Digifree.
If you have a minute or 10, GrowingPainsScrapped has a full kit, papers, elements and 2 (two!) complete (and beautiful!) alphas. 
You only need to get to their site by clicking here and make sure you scroll to the very beginning of her giving out the kit...which is called My GirlFriends.
Beautiful. You wont regret having spent the time.

With Xmas & New Year (and Thanks Giving for the other side of the pond, I almost forgot!) I was a bit worried about getting carried away with the sales and no money...
No need to worry.
There is so much stuff for free around, I doubt I would have the time to download it all!

For those of you with less time to sort through and specific needs or just fancying giving yourselves a present... my favorite site for buying has unbelievable sales:
Full kits for 1 Euro each, 30% and 40% discount on Commercial Use stuff and some freebies too.
I got to Digital Creations France through Digifree at first, but as I registered to download a freebie kit (or 10!!!) they started sending me emails with sales, I discovered designer paradise, only in an affordable level.
Every month they have at least 30 kits for a Euro (this would translate onto something like U$1.49) and they also have created another sister site, The French Frog, with most designers in both, but some variations... great stuff, affordable and lots of freebies too.

I have also made my cards @ Scrapblog, but to talk about this we need a lot more time (and energy which is almost running out here...) , so I will leave it for the next time.

Here are some layouts I made with my friend/neighbor's daughters photos last night, all kits come from the sites mentioned above, just ask me if you would like to know which one is which in the main (as I mix a bit sometimes)
Promise to come in the near future and make justice to each designer with a post each, layouts and all explained...today is just not the day...

Film Strips by SBMax (I made the circular one) top film strip (pinkyish)and stars from Petitsouris FunkyWinter, elements & word art by SummerDriggs (and SBM text editor)
Chriscraps Amazing Birthday + an old background
very old elements from some kits gotten over a year ago, various designers

GrowingPainsScrapped MyGirlFriends Kit, alpha from S Robinsons Halloween and, bellow, Misty Wire kit from Crafty Scraps, word art by Summer Driggs....the kit has a LOT more...

..maybe the proximity of Xmas, maybe the wonderful feeling of sharing is still there, always, one just need to go in the right direction.
Well, though I haven't been all that well to write too much (and time is short with my humongous Brazil album in the making!), I felt I needed to share these with you, maybe one troubled soul (as much as mine was) will get the same energy, faith and general mood cheer with the amazing stuff I have been (all night) downloading.

First of all, I would like to introduce you (if you have not come across her before, which, if you are an avid scrapper, you may have) to a wonderful, caring,giving, extremely beautiful inside and out and full of talent mum, hard worker, scrapper, designer....
Her name is Michelle and she is the driving force of CraftyScraps
This girl has a gift and she shares it... in her forums you will find at this very moment over 120 Quick Pages for free and, if you, like me, are not big fan of having it done for you, still she has many, many amazing kits, all free, apart from a few kits she sells at the ScrapbookMax Store .
She even explains us why she gives all these wonderful stuff for free...so you can get to know her a bit more.
So, go pop into the forum, have a chat, no even registration is needed, you will come out feeling envigorated and with a *box* full of scrapping goods...some amaizng felt stickers on the Xmas theme are particularly beautiful, there is a full Piano Keys Alpha (so clever, I had though about making something like that but did not occurr to me how to) One of the kits that fit the most my scrapping style is the Misty Wire, with which I made the layout above.
There is so much in her site, I'm thinking maybe I should give you time to enjoy it all to the fullest before I go on to the rest of my finds.....but, as I'm here and not sure when the writing fairy will come back with some energy dust....

We all know Digifree, right?
One would have thought it a matter of go and grab, but it isn't always so.
I am not very keen on the blog trains, though I know the kits, alphas, general colaboration stuff is awesome...I hardly have time lately to finish my albums (or I am not in good health, which would mean not in good mood, which will mean no scrapping...oh well, you know me LOL) so I tend to ignore the compliacted process and go for the straight forward downloads.
I always, always comment, thank them, and mention Digifree.
If you have a minute or 10, GrowingPainsScrapped has a full kit, papers, elements and 2 (two!) complete (and beautiful!) alphas. 
You only need to get to their site by clicking here and make sure you scroll to the very beginning of her giving out the kit...which is called My GirlFriends.
Beautiful. You wont regret having spent the time.

With Xmas & New Year (and Thanks Giving for the other side of the pond, I almost forgot!) I was a biot worried about getting carried away with the aales and no money...
No need to worry.
There is so much stuff for free around, I doubt I would have the time to download it all!

For those of you with less time to sort through and especific needs or just fancying giving yourselves a present... my favorite site for buying has unbelievable sales:
Full kits for 1 Euro each, 30% and 40% discount on Comercial Use stuff and some freebies too.
I got to Digital Creations France through Digifree at first, but as I registered to download a freebie kit (or 10!!!) they started sending me emails with sales, I discovered designer paradise, only in an affordable level.
Every month they have at least 30 kits for a Euro (this would translate onto something like U$1.49) and they also have created another sister site, The French Frog, with most designers in both, but some variations... great stuff, affordable and lots of freebies too.

I have also made my cards @ Scrapblog, but to talk about this we need a lot more time (and energy which is almost running out here...) , so I will leave it for the next time.

Here are some layouts I made with my friend/neighbor's daughters photos last night, all kits come from the sites mentioned above, just ask me if you would like to know which one is which in the main (as I mix a bit sometimes)
Promise to come in the near future and make justice to each designer with a post each, layouts and all explained...today is just not the day...

                                              

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Glad to have found....


..so many creative, nice,helpful people around lately, but there is one lady I reckon deserves a special mention...
Not only does she answer every question I have and has opened my eyes and called my attention to, for example, the world of fonts amongst many others, but she also shares her creative talent with us all:


Her name is Mary and she goes as mh51 in ScrapbookMax, she is also (rare to find, in this across the pond dominated world) in the UK, which makes me feel a special bond...
Her kits are absolutely wonderful, as are her layouts.
Go have a look and you will be as pleased as I am...I promise!

Here is a card I made with one of her wonderful kits:


Saturday 14 November 2009

A time to be Grateful...


This isn't a new thing for me, or even something to feel sympathetic with my North American friends in this time a year...
I have been doing the Simple Abundance for a while now, but today I thought (as I was just browsing DigiFree) I should thank all the designers who kindly share their art with us, which is allowing me to make the wonderful albums and books I'm making.
I'm not feeling all that well physically today, and Sarita has a friend sleeping over, so I will post names and links tomorrow...just didn't want to let my thought get lost...

Monday 9 November 2009

Creating Paradise



So... after another sleepless night (if you know me you will know this is not as bad as it sounds) I decided to share my delight with my new toy.
Everyone knows how much I love Scrapblog.com, and how much happiness and benefits I got from the site, not only the program but also the community, one couldn't hope for a better site...but lately it has been changing towards the financial side and, after much thought and seeking advice, I decided to buy a program.

I had seen the advert for ScrapbookMax when first investigating DigiFree, the price converted in British Pounds was more than convenient but, why buy at that stage, when @ SCrapblog everything (or most) was free and I was enjoying it so much....
There was also the fact that ScrapbookMax was designed for Windows and we were already working towards our iMac, so I forgot all about it.
I then embarqued in the project of  scrapping Sarita's year books and (at her request) print them.
In this I found the first difficulty with Scrapblog, as they don't ship to the UK.
Not only that but there is no possibility of ordering more than one book and paying one delivery: I had to pay postage and package within the US per book (I printed 3) and then (this I will eternally grateful for) I payed Rebecca, who is part of the team and a marvelous person, the international postage.

Have to admit though: I took the opportunity that they had at the time 25% discount on printing keepsake books, so, all in all, it worked out approximately £50 each book, which, if you shop around, will realize it isn't expensive, especially taking into account that each book had 70 pages or over....
All brilliant up to here.
I was buying credits from time to time but, as it works out cheaper to buy the U$25 at the time, this was a bit of a risky situation...and as the time went, more and more stuff had prices,less and less was free.

Then one day I got an email (presumably I registered at the time of checking out the advert) from ScrapbookMax , announcing their latest version, the 2.0, and the discount, a modicum U$47 something....
I write back (not expecting a reply at all) suggesting they create a version for Macs...
Very soon after I got a reply, explaining how I could work the program on Parallels, the program form Apple designed to allow Windows in the Macs.
Lets cut the story short: I bought it.
There are some reviews of it here:
but since writing them, I have come a long way.

It wasn't easy at first, I even went through the painful task of recovering my PC from Trojan Horses and Spyware attacks in order to work SBM in it, because the Parallels was crashing my Mac, but once I got the grip of the program (with a huge helpful hand from the SBM members and team) the making of my pages has turned into creative paradise.
There is one plus with ScrapbookMax that makes everything worth wile: the prints at home are excellent, as we retain our high resolution photos.
In a minor scale, the use of all the freebies and stuff bought in stores is usable with no fuss, no going through Photobucket and wasting time downloading. I say in a minor scale because (we need to be fair here) at the moment in Scrapblog the getting files from Photobucket is faster than it was...still: with SBM I get them drag and drop from my computer.

ScrapbookMax isn't Scrapblog.
I said and will keep my word: Scrapblog is the best program on the net.
Is fast, has a number of amazing features that make composing easy and creativity flows...but our wallets get drained as fast, and SBM does not have this problem.
The program is mine.

A few of my Scrapblog sisters have followed me to ScrapbookMax, that makes it even nicer, and plus the SBM ladies (and gents!) are a nice bunch too.

My thing with Scrapbooking is not a superficial pastime, it has a goal,is a task.
I create projects with the photos we take, I am still in the middle of producing Sarita's books and I will do the rest in Scrapblog.
But ScrapbookMax has allowed me to make my own cards, and now I'm making our Brazil album...and will be able to print and put together in those fabulous albums I got for free from Freecycle...huge leather bound albums which fit two A4s per page...
Can't wait to finish !

So, there you go, this is what I have been up to.
Wont post everything here as I have done lots, but if you are interested, there are two albums and a few loose pages here:

Now I'm gonna go think out the next step: to sleep or not to sleep?
that is one hell of a question right now! (09.33 am)
:)

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Late again....



...and another sleepless night.
I reckon is not that bad as Sarita is on holidays,but nevertheless...
I need to update this, I guess...
My new toy: ScrapbookMax V2.0
I bought the program as I was getting fed up of having to pay U$25 every time I wanted stickers in Scrapblog. The program is great, I ll review a bit more when non sleepless, but I'm runing it on Parallels in my Mac, which causes the Mac to crash.
So I cleaned our old PC, run some scans, and apparently is working well.
The plus of ScrapbookMax is that one doesnt need to be online.
Problem is: the email with the program is not showing in my yahoo web based mail, so I haven't been able to download it yet, wrote to the SBM lady but she hasn't answered (over 24hs since I wrote)... I wonder...is it that they only communicate when you are about to buy?
anyway, I ll find my way.
These are my two first pages of the Brazil trip, done on SBM. I printed the first page in an All in One HP 2575 series, running out of ink, and still it came out beautiful....
So, the program prints quiet nicely too...I'm dying to use it again, but will wait till tomorrow.
Now, I ll try some sleep...
:)

Tuesday 12 May 2009

Facing a new phase.....

..isn't easy.

So much that I have been avoiding writing.
Writing about what happens means pretty much acknowledging and therefore solving.
I have never been one to run away from things, but when the events are such as the current in our lives, stuff which I cannot change, I wasn't sure I wanted to write about it.

My daughter, you see, my precious little baby whom I nursed on the breast for almost 3 years, that little princess who liked dressing up dollies and learn to sing in the bath tub with Maria Elena Walsh, Sound of Music and Annie.... that same one who still cannot go to sleep unless I'm there to do the *tickles* (this means stroking the side of her back in a particular way), this same girl is entering the grown up world.
This a world not so different of mine when I was 13, but faster and meaner, if those are words to suit. 
(I never know, in English, you ll excuse this foreigner, but at least I try)

I don't buy the crap of the *understand your teenager* books, or the *how teenagers think* (which by the way I couldn't get pass the 15th page, and have intended to write to Jellyellie to give the kid a piece of my mind, but hey...)
There is nothing to be understood about teenagers.
The teens are a time of change, revelry, even if you have nothing to rebel against.
Time to define stuff, to make desicions on your own, to start forming your own world....which may change drastically or not in the future, but, in my honest and humble opinion, the only thing one can do about out teenage children is try to remember how it was for us.

In doing so I have been able to keep my relationship with Sarita a nice one, even though her aspiration at this time is to *fit* with a group of kids who's life consist in going every saturday to the Heath to get drunk and smoke cigarettes.

My coming into knowledge of these all, as in verbally speaking, happened when she brought a friend to spend the weekend with us. They come back not wanting dinner, and when I pass the living room and have one look at this girl, I did not need to ask, but I (ay ay, it hurt) of course, did:

"What's the matter with her? did she drink?"
""mae, everybody drunk!!!!"
"What do you mean everybody? did YOU drink?"
"maaaaaaeee, EVERYBODY drunk!!!"

so I kinda smiled, asked her what did she drink, and went over again the subject of alcoholic fathers and genetics and her father's family and having a life and not wanting to end up, well, you know the drift.
I (again) suggested that, if she HAD to drink, as to not to appear like a wimp with the kids she is trying to fit in, to ALWAYS have her own can or bottle, to just get a sip and drop it on the side..... which (thank God for that!) she confessed to have done. 
I also kept (and keep still) saying (on and on and on and on, poor kid must NOT like the sound of my voice by now) that these boys are not the ones who will be having the life she dreams of, one with sports cars and a carrier and a house with a garden and children who will be loved by both parents and whole families.....

I know she isn't into drinking or smoking as in a daily thing, I know she is driven to these by what they call *peer pressure* but, though I know she does listen to me and takes things in, I cannot avoid being a bit worried.

I try, as I said, to put myself in her shoes, to listen to what she tells me without negative criticism,I know I am lucky that she talks to me, and I remember how every time my mum forbid me to befriend this or that one girl or boy, I would go to the end of the world to make the best of friendship with said this or that girl or boy.... whom, invariably, were at least 5 or 6 years older than me, not forgetting Mariana who was 16 years my senior.....

I may be wrong, but I reckon if I know who she is with, where she is and what she is doing, I have more chances of protecting her than if I just ignore or forbid stuff which then she will be doing regardless....
My solution to all these comes in the form of keeping her busy, if she is studying, doing after school & weekend courses, she has the chance of meeting people who have ambitions in life other than getting drunk every weekend, right? 
well, that's gonna have to wait... why?
because of the one evil instrument which makes the world go round: money.
we are traveling to see the family this summer (which I'm dreading as I'm not well), so stiff will only happen when we come back. It will though.

I'm not happy with the school in general right now though.
No uniform could mean individuality in the best of ways, but when your child wakes up two and a half to 3 hours earlier to get ready,and this getting ready is more alike an American Next Top Model parade than going to school.....
This morning I cringed when I saw what she was wearing....and the make up.... you know what school said to me when I called to ask (to Sarita's insistence that every teacher saw them with make up and even the HeadMistress and none ever complained) :
"well....you see...is not NOT allowed...."
"what do mean by that?"
"it isn't written anywhere that they cannot wear make up...."

so WRITE IT then!
I'm not sure they learn that much these days either, to be honest...
but hey, worse is written now, I had to make a record of this, though I have dread the writing the words in black and white, I know is important for both of us that I do.

There is still the fact that we watch TV together, we do computer stuff together, she shows me every site she goes, tells me about every boy (or girl) she talks to.... and we ve been to see Hannah Montana's movie (yeah, call me childish, but I fricking loved it)

There is the issue of my health which I should be writing too.... suffice to say that I'm in and out of hospital again, and this week some big testing is in store....I may bring up some energy and will power to write about that too.
What I have been doing?
making books of memories for the future,by Sarita's request, we are printing them, and also all these have brought a new skill I didn't know I had, and something I maybe pursuing when we come back....

Here are the books:





I hope this works.... otherwise, you know where to go  to view them :)

Monday 23 February 2009

Whose hunger are we saving?

you know I'm not one to go around politically speeching or trying to save the world. I leave that to some of you guys around here who are way more skilled than I am to do so.
But this came through my inbox, from someone I love and admire.
It says the text is attributed to Mentor Muniz Neto, director of creation and partner of Bullet, one of the biggest publicity agencies in Brazil.
It may be, maybe not and maybe you have seen it before. If so, please remember I was translating from the Portuguese language and that English is not my native one.
I just thought it was valid.
Even if it's for my daughter to read in the future and have some reflect of what was going on at this time, which is the only reason I blog.
Thanks :)


"I'm gonna play a slide show for you,

are you ready?
Nothing new though, surely you have seen these images before,
so much that you may even be familiar with them.
It starts with those starving children in Africa,
those with their bones coming through their skin,
those with flies in their eyes.
And the images keep rolling.
Exodus of entire populations.
Starving people.
Poor people.
People with no future.
For decades we've been watching these images,
in the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic, photographic competitions.
Some of these images have even become art objects, admired in books published by famous, well known photographers.
They are images of misery that can move the soul.
They are images that have created starting points for government's campaigns.
They have created world organizations.
They have created institutions.
They have created social movements.
The misery of the world, be that in Uganda or in Ceará, in Índia or in Bogotá touches the soul.
Year after year, we've been discussing what to do.
Year after year of pressure we' ve trying to find the way to move the infinite number of leaders who have passed through governments of the most powerful nations in the planet.
It was said that 40 billions U$ dollars would be needed to solve the problem of hunger in the planet.
To solve it, capicce?
Extinguish it. Terminate it.
There would be no more skinny children with no future, not one in a single forgotten corner of the planet.
I don't know how they achieved this estimate.
But lets say they are wrong. Lets say we need twice as much.
Or even three times as much, yes, lets say trice.
With 120 billions our world would be a much fairer place.
There was no manifestation, public movement, political or philosophical speech, nor photo which moved a soul.
There has been no documentary, world organization, lobby or pressure which could solve it.

But in one week those same leaders, those same powerful nations which failed to be moved by the disaster and unfairness of hunger, those same have open their wallets and safes to give 2.2 trillions U$ dollars (700 bi in the USA, 1.5 tri in Europe) to save the hunger of those who already sleep with a full belly. Banks and investors.

Like someone said, what a shame that this text is only in blogs and not in the mass media,that one that knows how to slap and hide....
If you want, forward this...if you don't..... never mind, anyway...
"Our dinner is granted..."

Monday 16 February 2009

Down memory lane.....

... with the music of today.

So now we have the iMac, iTunes at hand, but LimeWire is the blessing for the less fortunate on the financial side (that would be us), so, not having gotten around to get the PC, our dear dinossaur, going to retrieve my old collection, I set out to get some new (old) songs.
But when I got into our LimeWire library I saw that Sarita downloaded a few songs, I decided to give a bit of attention.

She still makes a point to be home in time to watch the Cheetah Girls movie and new episodes of the Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, but I can see her wondering into a different period of her life.... and, providing it is not Britney, I try to learn as much as what she likes to be able to share and encourage her to sing and keep performance a part of her days, though we, not surprisingly, have no more money to pay for the classes.
( I've just got my energy bills for the quarter, which total the amount of £297 Sterling Pounds... there goes Sarita's birthday's sushi dinner, I'm afraid)

And I found a couple of jewels.
One was Beyonce (why the Brit presentors call her BeyonceYYY, is beyond my comprehension of the eastendernest of the Shakespearean language, and makes me puke, but that is a minor detail) , which did not surprise me as I had watched (to Sarita's insistence, the E channel's life of the girl, and hey, a girl with determination, with intelligence, supportive parents and a drop of luck that came in the right time, a voice to kill for and.... well.... have you seen her and Shakira performing together?
my idea of heaven.
(well, one can't help but lust...)
So Beyonce singing *If I was a boy*
[I almost got all happy thinking she was changing teams, but hey, chances of her ever noticing us are slim, so, never mind...;)]
The other one was Jennifer Hudson singing Spotlight.
So I go into YouTube....
this was at, what...18:30h?
I'm still here, with Sarita coming and sitting in my bed to share a kebab and what she called *quality time with my mummy*, as she has been spending time with Syan because if this party on monday... (that will be something to talk about on tuesday...right now, I wish I had a double barrel shotgun to keep all the boys and whatever influences she can find when she goes out with her friends..., but as that is not very civilized or makes any sense, and your children are not your children and all that.... lets leave it as that and go back to YouTube, safer subject)

Not only is Beyonce amazing on all aspects of If I was a boy, but I found this video of her paying tribute to Tina Turner and singing dancing and fiercing Proud Mary... hwich by the way I have been trying to embed here for the past 20 minutes and, no matter what I do, this thing here wont paste the code I copied from YouTube, but, make an effort go watch it, it's well worth it, the user is Karavias, because you'll find a number of videos of Beyonce WITH Tina, that's not what I'm talking about... also, if you are familiar with my Vox, is there.

So,as much as I'm always complaining about the young *artists* performing (and recording) old stuff without notifying the younger ones as to who authors the songs, I'm amazed when things are done properly, and, to crown it all, I kept going back and back in time with the click of the mouse and I was not lying in my bed with the computer no more, but tripping my head of and listening to a mixture of Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Air Supply (yeah, don't ask) in a big cassette player and eating grapes half by half at my parents place...
You gotta love YouTube.

There is also the video of Jennifer Hudson doing Spotlight, look for the official one, another jewel, certainly (another code which wont paste here!)

it makes me feel like standing up and dancing a bit too...
(which I actually can't as Sarita has fallen asleep fully clothed in my bed .... three more days of her 12 years of life...
I'm enjoying all the attention and at the same time praying to keep it in the best way....)

And, to go, I just thought I share with you something which came into my mailbox tonight and made me laugh, though I presume you computer-wise people have seen it in every other language...this came to me in Portuguese, from a Brazilian, so I'll try to translate it without loosing the humor.....

A Jew is walking in the desert and finds a Coca Cola bottle... picks it up and.. surprise...a genie comes out of it!

-"Hello, I'm the 1 wish Genie, at your service. I can grant you a wish, an only wish, what would you like?"-

"Oh, I want peace in the MIddle East... look at this map, I want all these countries to live in peace, in harmony. Yes, that's my wish"

"But, my friend, come down to reality, get your feet on the ground.... I'm a genie, and a good one as it goes but.....man, these countries have been at war for the past 5000 years!!!!!!! nah, I'm not all that good, ask for something else, man"

"OK, I have never found and ideal woman...so I would like one that has a sense of humor, likes to have sex a lot, likes cooking, cleaning the house,is not jealous, is loyal and wont cheat,likes football, enjoys a beer or three,is gorgeous, hot, young, affectionate and it's not addicted to credit cards."

The Genie takes a deep, deep breath and says:

-"Give us that shit of that map again!"-


and this is the last of my photo scraps I m making to print....




and now I really need to go (to listen to Air Supply and Peter Cetera...yeah, I know, but hey, I'm 50 now, I can do as I please, I'm officially old!)

Thursday 12 February 2009

Nothing happens by chance....

.. coincidence is not a word I use much.

I'm convinced, saw this through my many years alive in this planet, that everything, each and every little thing, all has a reason, and the energy in which our lives flows is like a chain of events. Everything fits, it's just we sometimes don't look deep enough, but lets get on with the actual events.

Sarita had a parents evening last night
I was pleased to receive, not only a letter through the post, but also a phone call from the head of year, letting me know that they had provided a room for me, so I wouldn't have to move about and queue to talk to each teacher.
It may have to do with the fact that, for the last progress review day, in which I was having a horrible pain wise day, had to climb 2 floors of stairs on my crutches, and complaint (to say loudly would be an understatement) to all who wanted to hear (and the ones who did not too) also about the zillions of parents coming in by car, when they live just around the corner, to hell with being green, is it?
Anyway,
complaining works.
In this country though, you have to be wise as to the actual way of complaining.
In some cases the shouting and moaning in an almost bullying way fits, in others you wont get not even a second look and, in my very case, they would stay with the *bloody foreigners* idea for (at least) a week.

The whole thing couldn't have been better.
Not only I sat there listening to all these brilliant (the ones I know Sarita adores) and not so brilliant (the ones she hardly mentions and when she does is to say that *she can't teach, poor soul*) but nice teachers telling me how great, amazing, gifted, talented and well behaved my child is, but also how all these is My Doing. YaY Me!!!!
(well, we wouldn't want some false modesty, would we?)

Then we had this talk about net, the kids and net use, safety, what to do, what not to do, you know the drift.
In this I was also left with the feeling of blessing with my (by now I should call her Super) child, my beautiful daughter.
Apparently every other parent in the room has problems getting the kid off the computer, and they have no clue what the kids actually do in their machines.
I was so, so, so proud to be able to speak up to answer that nope, we do not have a game console at home and comment on the fact that, every site Sarita joins or every person she speaks or any new things she finds, she makes a point of sharing with me.
Also as a solution for getting the kids away from the computer the Task Force lady suggested that parents need to find something other than machines for the kids to do.... and here, again, my pride could almost be seen , so bright it was, when I spoke up to answer that Sarita does not even logs on every day, when she logs on is never for more than a couple of hours, half of which we are together (mainly dressing up dollies) and to present a numbered list of my child's outside school activities.....

Yes.
A brilliant evening, only to crown the earlier events....
Had another sleepless night a couple of days ago, only this one was not to do with medication or pain or insomnia, but with my internet connection falling constantly precisely when I had to finish a college essay.
Stressed and almost angered, I spoke to my providers, who are now called Virgin Media but something tells me the only thing they have of Virgin is the name. I doubt that Branson would run an enterprise so badly organized.

Anyway: first phone call, nice guy, but when I'm getting there, my (bloody!) cordless phone runs out of battery.
Familiar with this *problem* I go get the lounge's phone and call again.
This time the guy wasn't so nice, and did not have the patience to wait for my PC (the other computer to which the modem is attached to) to start, he wanted to finish the call and kept telling me they do not offer advice for Mac users and that the problem was my Mac and....... I'm not gonna relate all, but lets say I put the phone down elegantly, and promising him I would contact customer services with his name.
When my PC was up and running, I called again.
And the first guy picks up... great.
He helped me sorting it by changing the router's channel, but suggesting that, would this happen again, to connect an ethernet cable to the back of the Mac.... he assured me it would work, and offered more advice even:
"do not go to PC World, go to your local shop, it'll be cheaper"
to what I said I wont do neither, but post it on ...yes... Freecycle.
and that's what I did, though I thought it was a long shot, as I needed 15 meters.
Here I was to amaze myself once again: within an hour of my posting, two people answered.
Then a third.
This third was a lady,the only one who knew she had 15 m or more (the others weren't sure about the length) but she also offered to drop it of. MY oh My. God bless Freecycle.

But the chain of events does not finish here.
She comes.
She is rheumatoid arthritis sufferer.
She has 4 children, and, within the conversation, with all the naturally I never attribute to the Brits, she tells me:
"I'm gay, I'm very happy now in a lesbian relationship"
and then she tells me she is an artist, and she has co-founded a group of women artists, and, well...
nothing could be better at this time in my life.

I could have chosen any of the 5 people (two others wrote after her too) to get the ethernet from.
I even started writing back to the first, and, for some reason, that little voice in my head told me to save it in the drafts and wait, someone may be on the sure of having more than 12 meters, someone would be even nearer than his location....
Anyway
My net is beautifully working with the (almost 20 meters!) of ethernet attached to the back of the Mac.
I spent another night awake, only this one has been one of total pleasure, almost pain free.
I finished my college essay.
I produced even more Scrapblogs.
I dealt with everything I had to deal online. I woke Sarita up with a coffee (she loves it when this happens, as usually is her waking me up), we had breakfast, chat about the teachers, about the geography they are studying, she got ready, I decided to be good and keep a record of all this.
I wonder if I can get a company to print my Vox...
I thought I could sit and print page by page,then I realized I started in 2006.... wow, time runs when you are having fun

Thanks to everyone who have mailed me or messaged me to sympathize with my pain: your words, even the tiniest one, is a bit more of a pain killer.
Now I should get some sleep, as we want to go to the National Portrait Gallery later, and I cannot be spaced out for that. I'll try.

Now, to all who tagged me in Facebook or in Vox and I did not face the challenge, I apology-se. Also my apology for not being able to keep up with everyone's blogs, it's just that I start going through,get on to comment, sleeps starts to kill me or there is life calling.....
but here I answered to the Random Things tagging thing, so, if still interested, is here.
if you are REALLY interested, open it in full screen, or you wont be able to read.
The following SBs are stuff I made for Sarita and I, we are gonna have some books printed, and, in some cases I was so glad I kept the blog in Vox, as I was able to retrieve the posts to copy into the collage....
Ok, so, if you are still there, enjoy!
If you aren't, it doesn't matter, I know I talk too much!!!!
;)



hahahahahaha I just realized I had posted the 20 things already...oh well!!!!

there are a few more, but you know what to do, only go to my SB page.
To my famiily
Los quiero muchismo,
Adoro vcs
Saudades!

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Another sleepless night....

...oh well, maybe not totally sleepless but lacking enough for my eyes to be closing heavily now, 20.20 hs.
And this time the cause was a kind of anger, a bit of an impotence feeling.
My internet kept falling of line last night (well, this morning) so, like a good girl that I am and having learned the basics along the years, I restarted the computer.
First time, it did it, only to last just under 20 minutes, second time lasted 10 minutes, third time I unplugged everything, waited then turne it all back on: no net this time.
I gave up at 4am after loosing 4 pages of work.

I'm now literally, truthfully falling asleep sitting don, have to admit I came here on the hope that it would keep me awake, but I'm failing..
Waking up at 6.45 to see Sarita of to school, I tried again after she left... it lasted probably 15 minutes and nothing else on reboot.
So I called my ISP...long story short:
we changed the channel and it worked, but the (lots) bite in the middle was upsetting.
I always wondered why people who detest people work in Customer `service.
Now I'm gonna go to sleep.
I was tagged by Lucy (AlohaBailey) on Sb, and was very reluctant at first, I had been tagged in Facebook by zillions of friends, and we all know Facebook is an uncomprehensible jungle to me, with all the poking and request which I will never, ever get myself sorted to understand...but on a second thought, this girl is nice, quiet adventurous and I thought it could be fun....
So I did it...



now I'm gonna try to drag my child from the TV and go to sleep: a total record, going to bed at 9pm!!!
the letters move in front of my eyes, thank Goodness for spell checking!!!!

Monday 9 February 2009

The emotional thing and BDD...


...are just a couple of things I could write about right now.
Emotional, me, yup. I always put it down to the being latin thing, which only means we show more than the rest of the world, but then you get the online world....
there is now way of not getting emotional with such shows of affection, especially when affection come from people one admires, people one feels protective of, people one feels have known all one's life....
So I have been shedding a tear or two.

I got a phone call this morning, from one of the very (very) few people I actually allow to wake me up, my friend Peggy, who is just a few hours ahead of us...9 hours, to be more precise, in Australia.
Terrible thing, the fires, the destruction, the deaths....
And what enrages me the most is that the elites and governments do little to fix years, centuries of man kind wrecking the planet..... we had the floods in Brazil a couple of years ago, hills melting under the rain and bringing down with them the houses, the cars, the people...
last summer was Greece... but I have no spirit to get into a world saving rambling right now, lets get back to the point:
I met Peggy over @ Scrapblog.com, a bit over a year ago, she mentioned she was coming over in summer, we exchanged mails, then phone numbers and, before you know it, this little hurricane of energy, intelligence and beauty in all senses is nestling in your heart. She inspires me and heals me, and is because of her that I gathered all my energy today and had another productive one.(almost finished, at 3.26 am)

And as a string of events that all led down to the emotional path, Sarita had to come back from school this week because her leg was hurting. Today they went ice skating, I know she didn't fall, but she asked me to write a note to the PE teacher because she had back pain, she couldn't bend over and was walking funny. I write the note, because I'm 90% sure she isn't lying, but I wish I was more suspicious that she was lying...
then I wouldn't be worried about the Multiple Sclerosis thing. (her father is a sufferer, I've been told that science knows little about the genetic possibilities, and that she is too young to get her through the testing)
Maybe she is just gonna get her period and then all these aches and pains will go.
Please God, do not let me down, I trust you.

And in this emotional predisposition, I decide to read my mail before sleeping.... (ha ha, as if!!!!, of course, that was at 10pm)
I scan through the freecycle emails, nothing really worth for us tonight, answer a couple of people, forward some funny stuff, forward some not so funny political stuff to the Brazilian crew and, last but not least, I start going through the (always pouring) SB notifications. And then I start the tearful thing.

I know it may seem silly for some, but I know some of you out there understand:
all these people, beautiful, talented people, inspirational people, funny people, lovable people, all these people bringing me all these beautiful words....I try to say thank you...
how do you get people miles and miles away from you to understand the dimension, the magnitude of their words, their presence in your everyday life?
I'm not sure I got that much a mastering of the English language, but I'm sure these women understand what I'm saying.
There is a guy too, this guy who is a bit of a me male version, Belge, married to an English woman, living in Spain...and he runs a radio channel....

I'm not full of goodness and sweetness as many may think though.
There are a couple of kids who really, really annoy me at SB (though I'm quiet sure it s the same kid in a different identity, there CANNOT exist 2 of such annoying little girls)

Something else caught my attention (and I really, really hope she isn't a sufferer because I have seen the condition and...but let me tell you) a SB posted by Gwendoline Kay, about Bipolar Disorder. Extremely informative, well designed, greatly done.
And then reminded me of my friends who are sufferers, and some other people who used to be friends but aren't, because of BPD.... also reminded me of the zillions of cases I saw working for Camden NHS Health Trust.
I was an interpreter, then I was a Health Advocate.
Then I started ..err mm.... (was gonna say hating but I'm trying to teach Sarita that *hate* is too big a word, so) disliking the youth of this country even more.
I do not deny the existence of conditions like BPD or ME, (and many other abbreviations), I have seen the reality of the conditions, but in this century, in this automated, *nanny state* lie of a world we live in, the amount of young (and not so young) people who uses conditions as such to give a posh name to laziness and get a place in full government welfare....
*puke*

I know what I have, I got to the conclusion:
I, MesDammes et Monsieurs, I have BDD, the BiDOLLAR Disorder.
That is, in fact, simple: when the dollar is high, when I have the currency (oh well, it can be any really, but we all know the dollar rules the world...) when my pockets, wallet, bank account, card and tins of savings are full, I am in the euphoria of happiness, life is grand.
But then (and wouldn't you?) when the coffers are running low, I feel depressed and wanna sleep for days......
(joke, joke here...as this does not agree with my Simple Abundance way of life, but I just thought it funny and also, one cannot deny it: makes sense)
OK then: I've done it, Peggy.
I came, I overcame my inertia and writer's block (though you couldn't really call this ramblings of mine a master piece of any kind) and I'm here, just because you lit my day this morning and because you reminded me that I can.

For you, the ones who are at SB, the ones who do know me, from wherever, for you I would love to have a word which describes the kind of love I feel, the kind of gratefulness inside my heart that makes me overcome every aching bone in my body to come and tell you so.
One day, perhaps, I will find the right words.

Monday 26 January 2009

so much to say...

..and so little energy to write.
so much to do and so litle help to execute.
but despite the ugly feeling of this bad (bad!) cold which has restrained me to bed, and the frustration of computer issues earlier on ( I failed miserably on trying to upload an image to change the header here), my mood is not bad at all.
My cloud's silver linning is made of pure silk and tonight I will sleep with hope.
Tomorrow words will come.

Monday 19 January 2009

the Digital marvel....

..another thing which does not cease to amaze me.
Lifted Sarita's punishment as she was invited to a birthday in an ice rink... thought it would be too bad if I did not let her go, she has not been ice skating since WinterWonderland, which was January 08....
and that gave me time to sit in my bed, with the computer....
now, it is not secret that I have made many friends online, met them in real life, some of them, great friends indeed.
at this present time I am having a lot of help in the discovery of new stuff, and today was the PNG files day...
It's now 02.05am in London, so I wont go into it that much, but here is something I made earlier....



I have physio tomorrow and need to get to the bank and, you know, that daily stuff that keep us alive...but my intention is to make some changes in here (thanks to my amazing good friends Roban & Annemarie!) as I'm planning to move here permanently... (there is a long story attach to this too, but maybe another time...)
I would like to print my Vox blog though....
has anyone tried printing whole blogs at home?
or any idea of companies ho would do such a thing?
(preferably UK printing....)

Thursday 15 January 2009

How do they do it?

The net is something that never cease to amaze me.
Of course, I was born in times of black n' white TV, vinyl records and very corded phones.
Though I only started dealing with computers around 1997, when Sarita was a year old and smoking in international flights was not allowed anymore, so her dad decided not to bother to travel each year with us to the simple excue that a 14 hours flight no smoking could kill him....yeah, well, lets not talk about him right now.

So, back to computers and amazement: I do pretty well, some stuff taught by vey good friends, some learned by being curious and trial and error, in the beginning it was mainly to be connected with friends and family in all ends of the world... then the net became a place where I started to make friends...many of them who would later become *real life* friends, and very good ones.

I had a time in which I was very active in some chat rooms, I even got to be part of the crew who run the londonfetishscene.com (yeah, I know, not everyone's cup o' tea but that's another story all together) I kept learning.
When I got fed up with the kinky people I decided to take a break from the net, though it wasn't the net people whom I was fed up with, really, more like the real flesh and blood ones, but, again, story for another time.

When I took to turn the computer on again after a whole year of only answering mail, it had to do with my first digital camera, a Kodak Easy Share, 4 megapixel camera that we got for free when we bought 1500 prints @ Kodak in the high st.
My friend Wokka was my carer at the time, and he was (well, I suppose still is) a great amateur photographer.
So with him I learned the tricks that got me very interested and started my first photoblog at Fotothing.com.

Fotothing was a very, very nice place to be for a while, started by a British guy small, with clear and very functional design, the general vibe was great, and I was getting amazing photographers, amateurs and profesionals likewise, being really nice and helpful. So everything was sweet and I kept learning.
But, as with ebery good thing in life, it had to come to an end....and this happened at the time when Fotothing was bought by some big people with lots of money and there were so many people by then, the vibe wasn't the same.
At that time Wokka went to Flickr, so I followed.
And all that time I kept looking for a place to start a blog, a diary online with the sole purpose to make a record for Sarita to have in the future, as I treasure the stuff my mum kept...I lost lots of pictures and stuff in general from my late teens, 20s and even my 30s, a bit due to my gipsy life, a bit due to the madness in which I lived then.....

But coming back to my intended point: the net never cease to amaze me.
In this particular case I'm more thinking about the multitude of people, women that work, manage a family and a home and still keep up with their blogs, their scrapbooking, their photos, and some of them even more than two social websites.
So I ask them:

How on earth do you do it?

I have more than enough time in my hands.
Yes, I know, my health is not 100% but still, some days I turn the computer on and the sole fact of answering mail properly takes me an hour, then if I want to do a Scrapblog that will take over an hour, same with my blog and that is not thinking of the days in which I have 200 photos to download....and I like working them in Photoshop...

How do you do it?
I have no idea.
And I have to say, most of these women are women to whom I take my hat off, great mothers, great profesionals, so we are not talking about your average woman on benefits here in the UK. Nope.

Anyway, this whole thought has been in my mind for ages, just sometimes it's less present, sometimes more. Like this week.
I have tried to get the thoughts in my mind in order to update my blog, with so many things happening regarding Sarita's edication mainly, some really good stufff I have read and some movies we watched and ...now I'm thinking: does anyone in the US know if they are killing Derek in Grey's Anathomy?
Series 5 is starting next week on thursday here and by the adverts, it looks like he is dying...?
Oh, please let that NOT be....?
They have already killed Warrik (Gary Douran, the man of my wet dreams) in CSI..... (that's another thing I don't know why, oh why) I was so happy with the idea of Derek and Meredith with lots of offspring, in a candlewall house.....the producers better not kill the guy.

So, I was thinking on updating, then I get tangled in commenting in SB, making Scrapblogs (which are quiet good, even if it's myself praising myself) and then when I'm finished, not only is like 5am but all my thoughts and energy have deserted me...
One of the things that I would love to do more often would be the reading of my friend's blogs, I have learned lots and had a huge amount of emotions which had helped me through this past couple of years...
I will get around to write about our lives, I know that, but if any of you, wonder women out there could/would please (pretty please?) help us, tell us how do you do it.... I may be a happy bunny.


here is my fav SB from the last few...