I'm going to Morocco

Tomorrow morning I'm going back to Morocco for a few days. It's the second time I'll be back since I left and honestly, if I had a choice I wouldn't go... But I really need to go there... When we left we could only take ever so little, because we were escaping and I didn't want anyone to notice. This time I don't know what I'll be up against so I'm really nervous...

I hope to be able to take all my personal stuff (books, photos, scrap material) back to Spain with me because I'm afraid that if I leave them there I won't be able to get them back. The house isn't mine, it belongs to my ex, and since we're not on very friendly terms I'm not sure he'll let me go back there after this summer...

I'll be back by Wednesday. I'm not sure I'll be able to update my blog or twitter during this time, but I'll try to... It all depends on how things turn out these coming days.

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My parents are here!

I'm a bit MIA these days because my parents are here and I`m enjoying every minute of it. ;-) It's wonderful to come home from work and find the food ready and the table prepared. And this morning I didn't even have to get up at 7, my parents took care of my kids and took them to school. Being a single mom, things like that are really not something I'm used to, so I really really do enjoy life right now.

The only bad thing about having my parents here is that I eat too much. *lol* My mom is such a wonderful cook and my parents are used to have coffee several times a day, and of cause, you have to have a "little something" with the coffee, so I'm sure I'll gain a lot of weight these days... Oh well, they only stay for 2 weeks and then I won't see them for another 6 months so I'd better enjoy myself these days and not think about diets and stuff. Life is too short!

My kids are very happy too. The first night they refused to go to sleep in their beds, they wanted to sleep with granny. *lol* I don't think my poor mom slept very well because my kids are getting big and need a lot of space, but she was happy too. My mom really adores my kids. My kids are my parents' only grandchildren, since my only brother doesn't have any kids yet.My parents always do a lot of funny things with my kids when they come and visit, things I can't afford or can't do because I don't have the time too, so these weeks are very important to all of us.

I really thank God for giving me such wonderful parents! We've had lots of problems before but these past years we've overcome all of that and we now have a great relationship. I'm soooo happy!!!

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Day 1 Updates

Well, I didn´t finish my To Do-list today.... This is what I've done so far:

• Wash all the sheets and pillow cases - DONE
• Make all the beds
• Declutter my night stand - DONE
• Clean the cupboard in my dormitory - DONE
• Declutter my closet - DONE
• Dust my bedroom - DONE
• Clean the kids' rooms, make their beds, dust
• Dust the living room - DID HALF OF IT
• Dust and clean the bathroom
• Clean the terrace - DONE
• Declutter the kitchen - DONE
• Clean the fridge - This is what comes next on my list
• Sweap and clean the floors everywhere

It's 11.30 PM and I'll spend at least another half an hour cleaning. As soon as I take the kids to school tomorrow morning I´ll rush home to finish what's left. My home is not going to be perfect, but at least I won't feel ashamed to let my parents in. After they're gone I'll continue my journey to NO CHAOS. *lol* While they're here I just want to enjoy myself and spend time with them.

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Crisis Cleaning Day 1

My parents are coming tomorrow night. Finally!!! They were supposed to come last week but due to the volcano in Iceland pouring out smoke all over the north of Europe their flight was cancelled. My parents live in Sweden so we don't meet as much as we'd like to, but they come and visit twice a year and stay for a week or two. I'm so happy they're coming because on one hand I really do miss them and on the other hand, while they are here, they take care of my kids and my home, and I get a chance to have some rest. This time I'll take a  few days off and go down to Morocco to finish up some unfinished business I have there.

But having them here also means I have to clean my house before they arrive, because I can't stand having anyone staying here with all the mess we have here. So today and tomorrow I'll dedicate myself to "Proyect Crisis Cleaning"! I have been making a lot of progress in my home these past weeks, so things are actually getting better, but I still have a long list to do these days.

Welll, as Fly Lady says, no whining, just get going!!!

This is my To Do-list for today and tomorrow:

• Wash all the sheets and pillow cases
• Make all the beds
• Declutter my night stand
• Clean the cupboard in my dormitory
• Declutter my closet
• Dust my bedroom
• Clean the kids' rooms, make their beds, dust
• Dust the living room
• Dust and clean the bathroom
• Clean the terrace
• Declutter the kitchen
• Clean the fridge
• Sweap and clean the floors everywhere

Well, that's about it.... I'm sure I won't be bored these days...

Time to take out my timer and get going, the Fly Lady way! baby steps, 15 minutes at a time...

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NetworkedBlogs

There is so much more to sucessfull blogging than just writing... There are so many things I don't know about - yet, and I'm slowly getting into a world that's totally new to me. But it's so much fun to discover new ways to make friends and get your blog known. I'm really having a ball. *lol*

I just registered at NetworkedBlogs at FaceBook. Please join me there.

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I'm twittering

Well, I finally fell for the temptation to start twittering... I just registered so I'm still more lost than found, but tonight after I put my kids to sleep I will have a close look at that. Anyway, if anyone would care to follow me on Twitter (and of cause you want, right? *lol*) my addie is as follows: https://twitter.com/BlancaInSpain and for the rss feed I think it's this one: https://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/136966865.rss

See you all on Twitter!!!!

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Working on a New Look

No, not for me... *lol* I really needed a new look for my blog and while I was looking for a new skin for my Spanish blog I came across this one and I immediately fell for it! Bare with me while I do the reajustments, I'll finish in a day or so.

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It's Friday, hooray!!!

Oh boy, am I tired or what...? I can't remeber being this tired for a long long time. I know that if I lie down right now I'm going to fall asleep even before my head hits the pillow. It's almos 6 PM so I still have some hours to go before I can go to sleep.

It's been a tough week. I've had soooo much work, preparing classes and studying French and Maths. And the weather has been awful, it's been raining most of the time and that really gets on my nerves. I still have lots and lots of things to do this weekend, but every little thing I do is a step closer to feeling fully prepared for my job and that will be soo cool.

Well well, I'd better get going before I fall asleep with my head on the computor. I'll go to the public library with my DS1. We'll be back in an hour or so...

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WW - A kick start

Last Tuesday I decided it was time to get back on track with FLY Lady. This is what my living room looked like when I took the furniture out of the kitchen and dining room and stuffed it into the living room so I could clean.

You find more Wordless Photos at Wordless Wednesday All Week.

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Still raining....

I'm so fed up with this weather.... It's been raining for ages now. What is wrong with the weather these days???? O.K., if I was living in Scotland I guess this weather would be rather normal, but hey, I live in Spain because I love to see the sun every day, and for the past months we've only seen the sun in photos.... *sobbing*

As it's Sunday we were supposed to go to church. I know going to church on Sundays is rather out of fashion these days, but I really really like going to mass. I really get a kick out of going to mass, at least when the sermon is good. After all, I wanted to become a nun when I was about 15... *lol*

Because of the heavy raining we have to stay at home. No way we can go out the way it's pouring down right now, it's not only raining cats and dogs, it's raining elefants... And the rain is cold... I love the warm summer rains, I love running around in a field or on the beach getting all soaked up. I feel like I'm 5 years old again. *lol* But cold winter rains like the one today just make me sleepy and I'd love to spend the whole day snuggled up in bed.... Just relaxing, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies and watching a movie...

Luckily enough the rain stopped for a few hours yesterday so A, my oldest son, and I went walking to one of our favorite shops. It takes us about half an hour to walk there but it's worth the walk, because on one hand many products are a lot cheaper there than where I live and on the other hand I really need to get rid of those calories that live around my belly. I bought a lot, too much actually, because I was really exhausted when I got home. I bought 18 liters of milk, fruit and vegetables, and lots lots more. My poor shopping cart did a great job! 

Well, let's see what we can make out of the day today. Going for a walk is totally out of the question. I'll have to think about things we can do at home. My kids are watching a movie on the internet, they don't mind the raining too much. I guess I'd better study some French or maths, or maybe I should clean the laundry room...???

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French, my nightmare

I've had a really rough time these past days due to me studying French. I have realized that I've forgotten so much. Well, I didn't touch it for over 20 years so I guess it's normal that I've forgotten about most of it. Or maybe I just got too blocked...

I studied French for 6 years. First 3 years at school and I LOVED it!!! I studied day and night and really wanted to learn to speak it well. I even had some French speaking pen pals. Then I started Secondary School and we got a new teacher, an old man who must have been a military in his youth or something. The first thing he told us the first day of class what that we were all stupid and not able to pronounce the French sounds as we should, so he was feeling sick. He also told us that due to our horrible pronunciation we were not to speak French in class. If we wanted to learn how to speak French we should go to France, because in class we were to study grammar and nothing else. And that's what we did.... We spent 3 years studying French verbs... I ended up so fed up with French grammar that I decided that I would never ever speak a word of French in my whole life!!! And I haven't, until recently...

I really need to get rid of that mental block I have with French. I guess French isn't such a horrible language after all. But right now I'm feeling quite ill because I'm actually teaching a language without knowing it... I do not enjoy my classes right now... But I need the money... And somehow I know this is the only way I'll get back to French, because I hate going to class and not knowing what I'm doing. I'm sure I wont have any problems with French next year. I just feel sorry for my students this year, because I'm not sure I'm helping them or making things worse...

I did learn a good thing from that teacher though... I definitely know what kind of teacher I do NOT want to become!!!! When I feel sad because I feel I'm not a good enough teacher I think about him and think "Well, at least I'm doing better than him, because he made me hate the subject he was supposed to teach us".

Well, it's time to get back to my studies for a while. A bientôt, tout le mond! See you soon!

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Traditions are still alive

In an earlier post Ron commented that traditions are still stong here in Spain, and they deffinitely are. Especially here in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, people love the Easter traditions. Even if people generally aren't very religious the rest of the year most people enjoy the processions. And they love to dress their kids up and let them participate. Aren't they cute these little penitents?

Until recently, women weren't allowed to be nazarenos but since they are hooded penitents there have always been women who dared to break that rule. Women weren't allowed to carry the thrones either, but these past years more and more thrones are carried by women only. Like the Virgin here in Rincón de la Victoria.

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Nazarenos

These are the "nazarenos" or penitents, who walk along with the Christ or the Virgin durning the procession. Some of them walk barefoot or carry heavy crosses, in order to pay for their sins or to ask for a special favour. The hoods are, according to Ancient traditions, a way to get closer to Paradise. 


More Wordless pictures at Wordless Wednesday All Week.

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One hour later...

Well, I've been cleaning my home for the past hour so I think I do deserve to take a break. ;-) I didn't finish to clean it all, because I got a bit sidetracked - I had to pick up lots of things from the floors in my kids' rooms, I found 4 grey socks under their beds and since I didn't recognize them I decided to wash them up and surprise!, I found out they were actually 2 black socks, a green and a blue one. Great! My kids are always out of socks, because they can't find the matching sock. Well, tomorrow they'll have four more pairs to use...

I did do the floors in the kitchen, hall, "dining room" (actually a part of the living room), both my kids' rooms and the bathroom. Only my bedroom and the living room left. My home definitely does smell a lot better! I looooove the smell of the soap I use for my floors.

I'll have some tea and fibre cookies before I do what's left. Then it'll be time to work for a while on my Mount Papermore. I really, really do need to get more organized!!!

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Time to get organized!

I am living in total CHAOS and that is realy getting on my nerves!!! I feel totally trapped in a situation I can't handle and I definitely don't like living this way. I keep running around in circles, getting exhausted and achieving nothing... But today is the day I begin to change that!

It's Tuesday the 13th. In Spain it's like Friday 13th in the English speaking part of the world so it's a day when you need to be extra careful, just in case... ;-) And it's the day I've decided that my life needs to change...

There are so many things I need to do... I know I can't do it all in just one day so I'll start by taking baby steps. First of all, I need to work on my Control Journal because I feel a lot better when I have one and do my routines. I have already started one and so far I´ve done a plan for what to do every day of the week. But I need to plan each day of the week in order to make the most of my time.

Then to get a kick start I'm going to do a Home Blessing - spend one hour today just getting my home sort of clean. One hour is not nearly enough to get it sparkling, but at least it will look (and smell!) better and I will feel a lot less stressed out.

I also need to get back to preparing dinner in the morning and not wait until we´re really hungry at night. Last night we didn't have dinner until 9.30 PM and my kids usually go to sleep at 9! So no need to mention that we had a really really bad morning here today...

Anyway, time to get going!!! I'll start doing the Home Blessing and then I'll get back here to tell you about my next steps. Babysteps.... One step at a time...

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Work, work, work...

I'm finally working... Well, officially I'm still unemployed and in a way I am, because my bosses can't afford to pay taxes for me, so they pay me in cash. I don't earn enough to make a living out of my job, but at least I don't have to stay at home getting depressed anymore. I work as a teacher two evenings a week and as a secretary one morning a week. I just looove it!!! *doing the happy dance*

Right now I'm really busy because I have to make a curriculum for each class and I have to prepare the material. I work at an academy that help students pass their exams so basically I need to look at what they are doing in class and help them understand that. But for the kids in their final year of High School I have to make sure they've understood everything they've done so far and most of them have problems with basic stuff, so I need to start from the beginning and revise everything..

I'm going to teach French!!! Wow, I haven't touched French for over 20 years so I'm quite concerened about teaching it, but I will definitely do my very very best and I'll spend the coming weeks studying French like crazy. I really want to do a good job and help my pupils pass their exams.

I need to get organized!!! After 4 years in Morocco doing nothing I really find it hard to get organized and I spend a lot of time doing things I could do in much less time and with a better result. I'm defintely going back to the Fly Lady plan.

Well, off I go... I's time to make lunch...

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WW - A typical street in Andalusia

More photos at Wordless Wednesday.

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The Easter Procession

Jesus Christ at the cross.


The Virgin Mary at daylight. This throne is carried by women only. Look at how they move together to move the throne the way they want. If you look closely, they actually seem to be dancing.



The Virgin Mary at night, by the beach.

And some typical Easter procession music, called the saeta:

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WW - Good Friday

More Wordless Pictures

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