Birthday Week: 1.Re-learning my French.

My daughter, Sarita, was 14 last friday.
Amazing, don't really know where time went,but wherever it went, it turned my baby into a fine young lady.
I can complain much about her being untidy, or throwing her shoes, bag, coat and general accessories like a trail in her walking into the house, but she really makes me proud in what matters.
It was the half term holiday, so we have celebrations every day, starting by her best friend Lauren's visit from last weekend.
She was our next door neighbor, but had to move away outside London after her mum died in 2007,so this was an amazing surprise to Sarita.
As a birthday present I gave her an Ice Skating course for the 5 days of the holiday. She used to do classes at the Sobell Centre, but we had to stop as they change payment method, and it was impossible for me to get the money of the whole term together up front, and I didn't like the woman who owns the group much.
Sarita had mentioned to me that she would like to go back to study* before her skates did not fit her anymore* , so I found out about this other place.
She was happy and I was too as I did not have to drive her this time, so the week started pretty eventful.
I tried to keep as shutter happy as I could all week.
As I'm spending a lot of time in bed, in an effort to save health an energy for the things that matter: think cooking and keeping our lives moderately organized, this is not always an easy task, but I've got some good shots,which will speak loudly than I can about the fun we had.

In the mean time, I was confronted with the need to re learn my French via Yahoo's Babel Fish (as my French teacher from my secondary school maybe a bit difficult to contact!)....why?
Ok, let me explain:
If I had to choose one store, and one store only to carry on scrapping the rest of my life, I wouldn't doubt a minute, my answer would be Digital Crea France.
Not only do they create in my most loved styles, but also they make it possible for people like me (read skint-peniless-broke) to be able to shop often with very regular sales of full kits for 1 Euro, and their permanent collection of products categorized Retiring Soon, all kits are 1.50 Euros. They also have the best freebies,constantly.

But lately I have been experiencing problems in the downloads, and I know I am not alone on this as a few other women I know had the same, which told me it wasn't my Mac.
I wont explain the whole thing, suffice to say that in some kits, as many as 5 or 6 elements did not come through.
As I said, long story, but I at certain point started making note of the exact name of the files which did not come through and mail Digital Crea's Service to Client.
I got very promptly an email from Amelie, DC's creator, with a gift of 1 Euro to spend in the store. Nice of her, but at the time I wanted was the files which did not come through. Still, I didn't say anything else, after all, the store is amazing, right?

But after another couple of times and an experience in which wonderful Karen from SnickerdoodleDEsignsByKaren ended up sending me two files from her St Paddy's kit which had the same problem, by email, I thought I could ask Digital Crea to do the same...

What followed was also a long story, one in which I had to refresh my French but, re-reading what I had written...ermmm, I cringed, decided then to ask another of my favorite people in the scrap world for help.
Rosemarie Pixel, as she is known in CyberSpace, is in French Canada, none better than her to use the correct language and reflect the intention my message had.
(Thanks so much Rosemarie! you are the best!)
My message then went out in beautiful, proper French.
But I was then faced with a reply email...and what would you know..there is an online translator for which one doesn't even need to download software (the Google Translator is free, but needs the download), Gotta love these Yahoo guys...

Anyway, to make the story short: some of my favorite designers just went up a notch in my charts, plus they have gained a loyal client for life.
All of them were great, sent me the missing elements and one of them even had pity on me and answered me in English! LOL
So, here is my account of monday, first day of Sarita's birthday week, scrapped with the latest kits I bought from these marvelous girls, Moi, Chriscraps & Dilo.
They all have kits in the retiring soon for 1.50 Euros per full kit, Digital Crea just had a 1 Euro sale this week gone, but if you keep an eye you ll get marvelous freebies(they have a wonderful one at the moment!) every 3 days average, plus the sales are very frequent.


Chriscrap - kit So Funky


Chriscrap- kit Respire


again, Chriscrap, I used stuff from Croque Ta Vie and Crazy Day


here the designer is MOI, the kit GoGoGo this is a kit I never get tired of using!


again, designer MOI, kit GoGoGo


another amazing kit by MOI: My Black & White Paradise


in this one for the background & papers I used a kit I got free through Digifree almost 2 years ago from Peppermint Creative, a store I don't like buying because they are expensive even at Scrapblog.com, but the marvelous WordArt is by Karen


for this LO I used Dilo's Love Me, which I couldn't wait to buy, love her, love and love her a bit more!


again, same kit, Dilo's Love Me

Well, hope all this info is helpful, I ll be coming back with more photos (LOs', of course!) from last week.
Have a great week!

A magical, fairy like feeling...

...has never appealed to me when scrapbooking.
But after I saw this kit that Karen made, I just couldn't help myself....
This is what I made with it:


This came to confirm my deep believe that, no matter how angry you are, diving into some mindless(well not so much mindless as focusing your mind in color and composition...) scrapping will always make you feel better.
I wasn't feeling all that well the other night, I guess the so dreaded teenage time, the adolescence period I know I have to get my daughter through is staring at me with those ugly green eyes....and threatening to wreck my beautiful mum/daughter relationship I have been so proud to construct all these almost 14 years (12 days to go...)

It all dissipated yesterday when we went to Cristina, whom I have been friends with for almost 20 years here in London, and we all had a great laugh, lots of wonderful food (feijoada completa!!!) drinks (just one caipirinha for me as I was driving) and dessert (caramel pudding) in harmony.

more than likely I'll be making something with the photos, but later...

Don't forget that Karen made some gorgeous word art for Katie's St Patrick's Day kit, you can find my LOs in my previous post , and in her blog Karen has a quick page made with Katie's kit as a freebie, plus the alpha for garbs when you sign up to her newsletter.
To get all freebies you can go HERE get all download links and update what's new around there...
Both kits are well worth having, as they (I think) can make amazing LOs for St Patrick's day but have amazing elements and backgrounds which will go along many photos all year around.
I know Karen was having some problems with a couple of elements which did not download for me at the beginning, but that has been sorted.
I had this problem with some kits from DigitalCrea Fr, and thought it was my computer but it obviously isn't...as many others are having problems like this...will try get to the bottom of what s causing it, but if you had some elements not downloading from zip files, I would love to hear from you, see if we can sort out what's going on :)
Hope you are all having a weekend as beautiful as mine!
:)

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!

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.

Defining Happiness.....

...is something I have been constantly doing in the past couple of years.
I know I have come a long way in the 5 years since I went into an operating theatre with the (alleged) promise of a maximum 4 month recovery time and the going back to full time work, get my mobility back and then things turning souer....
I know I became a not very nice person at certain point, but I also know I was clear enough in thought to, at the very worse point of all, reach out for proffessional help.
But if I am to be totally honest, to myself and others, it was not the proffesional help alone which helped the most, as a matter of fact I can say today that it has been a simple sum of people, places, events and self critisism that got me to where I am right now, perhaps not the best of general state of mind and body, but a long, long way from the abism in which I fell after january 2003.

And it isn't because is the end of the year that I am getting these thoughts together (though one does to do so, with new year's resolutions that tend to collapse on the way), but because of something someone said today, on hearing me give Sarita a full lecture in why I would not buy her a Nintendo DS for Christmas.
And this someone, who has a daughter a year older than my child, said to me:
*Is like you are explaining to her what happiness is, like assesing that every moment can be a present if you know how to look at them...*
Well, yes.
There was also the message I got from a very dear online friend of mine, Musicjan from Scrapblog who is also a friend in Facebook now and who takes the time to come and read my posts in here...
After my DIY post, she commented on how beautiful my relationship with my daughter is, and how we should treasure something like this. *I m not saying this because of me and my daughter, she said, but because of the knowledge of so many others who do not enjoy this treasure we have*
And yes to this too.
I do know, I am 100% aware that I am lucky to be able to share, enjoy and work together my daughter.
I also keep making a point of this to her, and how lucky we are in many aspects of life.
I am, like most parents in this frantic world of ours, against a huge competitor in society.
I have been able to resist the video game thing for now...what? 5, 6 years?
And still, this year I can't, for some reason, sake a bit of a guilty feeling about stubornly saying no.
It isn't like she doesnt play games, she does. Most of her time online is spent either in messenger or some game site (though I have to admit that, to my relief, she plays dressing up dolls...)

Anyway, is already almost 4 am in London and here I am again, loosing the thread of my thoughts and what I intended to say is probably lost in the first few sentences.....
Never mind.
We have been in doors all weekend, Sarita has not been at school as she is ill with a bad cold, sore throat and what I suspect could be a chest infection, in this mean winter that does not invite to open windows....let alone get outside.

But, in discovering the good side of things, this time we came up with something great.

If you are the type of person who respects copy rights a lot, enjoys giving lots of money to the wring people (name them the enterteinment industry) stop reading now or forever hold your silence.

We watched some great movies online: no downloading,no paying, quiet good quality....which saves me the money for the energy bills I will have for this winter, taking that our place is colder now, after a council refurbishment of the buildings and the (alleged) double glazed windows, than we were before, with those good'ol' wooden made in the 50s...

So: Because I said so
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
and Wall E
saved us quiet a lot, plus the delightful August Rush, a film I did not know exist until another one of my beautiful Scrapblog friends, Roban, posted this:


Roban's August Rush
now, with this film, I had an intense online search, and unless I was to download the full movie, I could not find a way to watch it... I decided against the download, after talks with another one of these people who seem to be strategically placed in my path by some benevolent force, who had been giving me not only help with my beloved iMac, but also some serious and valuable lessons, my friend White Roses from Vox.

I was going to buy it, after all, one can avoid buying it for £15 these days as Amazon has copies for a fiver (£5) , but then another luminous idea came to me: if I was able to place requests for the Wicked and Son of a Witch books...if they had PS: I Love you in DVD just a few weeks after it came out in the shops.... (and we stupidilly paid £3.95 to Virgin to watch it on cable on demand before seeing it there) why not the local Library?
Ahhh the advantages of a mechanical world: I logged in with my library card, typed the words and Presto!
Today we went out for a brief (if still very, very cold) shopping trip and picking up one of the twins at the nursery (the other one is, yup, with a cold) and as we got the letter notifiying us the DVD was ready to collect, we enjoyed it in our flat screen TV. (and, yes, yes, I cried.)

So, back to this happiness thing: I am now convinced (and almost convinced Sarita, though I'm not sure how much of her asssurance is just to shut me up, with her being an almost teenager and all) that this Happiness thing is not something to achieve in the end of the road, but some of the moments, events, experiences that make that road.
We only need the ability to see them, therefore enjoy them to the fullest.

And I can even say I am looking forward to this Christmas, so, yes, I have come a long way, even if only thinking from last year to this one.....
I proposed to Sarita that, in lieu of the Nintendo Ds (the offer she wants is £114.99), we put together Xmas and her birthday's (in febrary) presents, and have a week somewhere in Europe, as she so much wants to go to Greece or Turkey....
Am I wrong on this one?
I know most of you guys are high tech and see no harm in surrounding your kids with all kind of virtual toys....and I don't think you are wrong, no, it is just that I see her loosing interest in lots of things she would enjoy, turning into another one of the herd....and I so, so much value and prioratize individuals....
I have had some chats with her lately which should turn into another post, about how she feels weird because most of her friends know what they want to do in college and she, at this point, doesn't....
Anyway, (again!) I'm loosing the plot.

I'm still reading about Ken's (Russell) phallic deliriums in film, (material for another entire chapter), so, if anyone knows if The Devils is available online, let me know, please :) The Birtish TV had this week a program about the 60's called Sex, Drugs and Rick and Roll, and the advert was that, if you remember the 60s, you weren't really there....and this being so true, I'm sure, especially now that I speak English, the film will have a whole new meaning for me....

I promise also all my neighbors and friends that I will make some time to catch up with your blogs and Scrapblogs...as you, all the beautiful people of my online world, are one of the big time key elements in my having a much better time in life.
I think of many of you very often, see you in characters on TV, books and films....you all have made my world a much better one.