Wind

On the last day of the year the wind went mad and we loved it!



Good bye 2006!

Christmas 2006

We had a truly wonderful time at grandma and grandpa's this Christmas and it was great for Ana to spend time with her cousins. She really loved it! So this is a summary of what we did:

We ate sprouts...

We ate apples...

We chatted and ate more apples...

We opened presents...

a lot of presents...

We played...

We went to the zoo...

we crafted...

We even had some fairies visiting!

Un hijo de puta menos en el mundo

!que habra hecho el infierno para merecer esto!

Red and White and fairy lights

The tree is up at last. This year I was in a bit of a dilema because somehow I started to feel a bit weird about the whole thing of having a tree at home. You know, a strange feeling knowing there is this tree slowly dying in front of your eyes, and just there, in your living room. The poor thing being loaded with crystal balls and other knick knacks and literally strangled with plenty of fairy lights. Not pleasant. Anyway I did a bit of research and worked out that a potted tree would be the best choice. Potted trees are trees have been dug up with their roots and potted into a peat and sand mix. Apparently, it is therefore very unlikely that these trees will continue to live after Christmas even if relocated outside. But, I don't know, at least I feel it has a change, 50/50 the lady I bought it from said. Because potted trees are quite small I used the felt decorations my mum made for Ana last year, so the tree has not much weight to carry.

So I had to find a place for the heavier balls

I love to put red berries everywhere

... and we put some stockings up

Now we need more fairy lights. Loads and loads. I just love them. I can't get enough of them. Something like this would do

I want this camara

Please, please Father Christmas get me the Canon 400D for Christmas!

Cute

Una manzana...

Tres cebollas...

How cute is this dish I found in a charity shop? And only 45p. Love it!

First advent calendar

Grandma England sent Ana her first advent calendar. She likes the little cards she put in but finds it hard to pick them up from the floor and becomes a bit frustrated. Just for today we hang it on her shelves, where she spends a lot of time. You know the game. Take object from the shelves and move it somewhere else. Repeat the process until shelves are empty.

knitting

My mum is with us and she is knitting some lovely alpaca wool waistcoat for Ana. It's so soft I wish I had lots of wool so she could make me a giant blanket. I looove alpaca. When I was little I had this alpaca coat from Peru I used to adore. I wonder where it is now. Anyway, my mum was supossed to teach me how to knit but she got so excited about this waistcoat for Ana that she can't wait to finish it and try it on her. I have no other yarn at home so I will have to learn some other time. She's tried to teach me many times but because we try once every five years or so I forget how to do it. Maybe knitting is not for me. You need too much patience and concentration, or at least that's what it seems to me. I'll wait another five more years, then I'll try.

On the bus

First trip on a bus ever. How exciting!

3

3 years ago today we got married an had the best wedding party ever: a fancy dress party. I have amazing memories of that day.

Anamama's mama

My mum is spending some time with us. I really miss not to have her around and it's one of the hardest things of living abroad. When she is here she looks after me like when I was a little girl and although she shares her love with Ana now, I still feel I'm her number one. This photo is from this Summer: sun, sand, my mum and my daughter. Perfect!

On the quayside

Great light this afternoon to take photos

Such a lovely day

Such a lovely and sunny day today.

We went to the swings.

We played for a while.

We went to the sea.

Such a lovely day

Quick bag

Some women love shoes. I love bags (and boxes and containers and storage of any kind). I can't have enough of them. So this evening I made my first proper bag. Well, by proper I mean it looks like one but to be honest it feels quite flimsy as I didn't line it (too advanced for me!). It's made of an old dress and some cute fabric I found in a charity shop recently. Now off to bed. Buenas noches.

Out of focus

Last week we visited gentlytiptoe and as usually it was lovely to see everybody. We were very lucky to have a special room for us so thank you very much Hannah (and Andrew) for all your efforts. We were dined, wined, shown around and had the chance to see in real life many of gentlytiptoe beautiful things. Thanks for everything. Looking forward to the next visit. Unfortunately the camara was mostly in my bag and when it was taken out most of the shots I took look like this:

She even manages to look cute out of focus.

Moo (II)

One more cow. This one is made of some of Ana's baby clothes and is also my own creation. The eyes are a charity shop find and they came in a tatty plastic bag together with other buttons. They look quite old and I'm not even sure if they are buttons but I think they really suit her. This cow is soft and cuddly and Ana would love to suck her eyes out (she's tried a few times).

I still think I can /should make improvements on her, like the poor thing could do with having four legs. Working on it.

First shoes

First steps: 28 September (11 months and 22 days)

Moo (I)

I made this cow a while ago. I had been looking for a template but couldn't find one I liked so I decided to make my own. I wasn't too happy with the end result but I've grown to like her, after all she is my first cow. She has even started to eat some of the rocket we have in the garden. More friends to join her soon. Mooo!

Coffee

Usually I don't make coffee at home. I much prefer to leave the house, stroll to one of the cafes nearby, order a latte, grab a paper, sit down and relax while I'm licking the froth from the spoon. At home you never get it frothy or tasting the same. Anyway, today I didn't fancy leaving the house so I decided to make a coffee.
One of the signs that I've lived in this country for too long and that I'm adapted to its ways is that I used to have coffee in this...

And now I go for this...

Double expressos are gone and milky coffees are part of my live. Another change: dinner at 5:30!!!!!!! Did you know in Spain we have dinner at around 9 pm? Couldn't do it now.

Mushroom soup

Just finished cooking some lovely mushroom soup. I saw some reduced mushrooms this morning and had to buy them. I have never cooked it before but ate it at John Lewis the other day (they do the best home made soups) and fancied having a go

The recipe came from this book which I worship

The secret is adding some fresh grated nugmeg. Yummy. All gone now.

My mum

My mum turned 60 on the first of this month. She doesn't speak any English at all. I've tried to make her say a few words and phrases but she still gets mixed up with 'good morning' and 'good evening' and when she says 'thank you' it sounds more like 'thenky' no matter how many times I've told her the right way to say it. She had to leave school at 14 because her teacher chose her to look after her kids and clean her house (a great honour at that time!) so she never received any decent education. But now she is regaining time and learning all those skills that she missed due to the society she had to live in. She is doing plenty of things: literature and math lessons, computing workshops and what she has turned out to be quite good at, painting:

Not bad for someone with no training or visual education. I'm well proud of her.