A visit to the cave

Here in my village there is a cave which is one of a very few underwater caves that have emerged from the sea. In Spanish it's called "la Cueva del tesoro", which means "the treasure cave". According to an old legend an Arabic pirate hid a huge treasure somewhere in the cave, but no such treasure has ever been found - yet... Anyway, it's a very beautiful cave, with a sleeping volcano inside. Have a look at these photos!

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Time for a change!!!!

Only 2 days left of this horrible year... I think it has been one of the worst years in my life so far and I hope next year will be a lot better. I've decided to make some severe changes because obviously, something went very wrong this year and I need to do something about that.

My first change has been to download a new layout for my blog. It's still far from finished, it needs a lot of fixing before my new template fits into the features of my old one. I'm not sure I'll keep it though, I don't seem to get everything where I want it and somehow I don't have as much patience as I used to. I think I'm much more restless these days...

Anyway, I'm working on it...

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Planning a beach party

My kids have their birthdays during the summer vacations so it's really difficult to throw a real party for them. This year I've promised them that we'll throw a party in June, right after school ends. Hopefully their friends will be able to come.

We'll have the party on the beach. I'm searching the net right now for party ideas. There will be 8 kids (all boys) aged 12 - 14. We've decided that we'll eat hamburgers (I'll order from a local burger) and have lots of snacks and most important, plenty of soda. I really need party ideas. I know they'll have a great time together, they always have when they're at the beach since they are all friends, but I want to do something different so it's not just another day at the beach.

Ideas we've came up with so far: beachvolley, frisbee, some sort of treasure hunt (finding sea shells and stones or something), play with water guns, maybe a sand castle competition.... Any ideas would be very much appreciated, so come on, please, help me out!!!!

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6 days in a row

I'm still hanging in there, doing my wii fit plus every day. I'm beginning to feel really proud of myself. I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal but as they say, Rome wasn't built in one single day and I won't lose the weight in one day either...

Today I was really busy with my kids. We've decided that it's time for them to learn how to cook so from now on they will cook a meal each every weekend. G made lunch today - pork chops and mashed potatoes and A made pasta with tuna and tomato sause.

In the evening we played Wii Party and had great fun. I really missed all the fun I have with my kids when I had that &%$ tooth ache. I'm so happy to be feeling okey again, it's such a blessing.

I wanted to do my wii fit earlier today but the kids wanted to wath TV and I  thought that I could do it a bit later anyway... Well, the kids went to sleep and I still didn't take out the balance board. 11.40 PM I finally did... What I didn't think about what that part of my excercise would count as Saturday and part of it as Sunday... First of all I ran for 16 minutes. Well, that counted as Saturday, so when I finished to do the 10 min of hula I had only done 10 minutes and not 26.... I decided to do 10 minutes of step up and not care about the missing minutes. So I did my 10 minutes of step and unlocked the 20 minutes.. So now I had 20 minutes and could hace done just another 10 minutes of step... Well, I felt I had too much bad energy in my body and wanted to get rid of that so I chose the 20 minutes step. Oh boy, that was hard! I haven't done andy step up for months... And doing 30 min all of a sudden, that's tough! But I did it... So all in all, I did 56 minutes of wii fit today. I will try to do another 30 minutes tomorrow (which is today actually since it's almost 3AM) and I guess I'll just do 20 minutes of step up and 10 minutes of hula and that's it... I think I'll put my goal at 45 minutes a day within a few weeks. That way it will continue to be a challenge each day.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now... Tomorrow we have to get up early, it's Sunday and church starts at 11 AM. Nighty night everyone!

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I'm definitely back!

I have been feeing ill for so long, I hardly could remember what it's like to feel okey. Well, now I do. And I'm slowly getting back my energy. I just love that, since I've always been a very active person and I really enjoy having lots of things to do. I think I've watched way too much TV lately...

Almost a year ago I decided I wanted to become a nutritionist and I bought a course so I could study at home (no way I can go back to school any other way right now). Well, it all began really well but then for a series of reasons I had to quit. Well, actually I didn't quit, I just took a break.... And that break is over now!

So far this week I've studied 2 chapters and I've done the exam. I got 20/20. Wow!!! That did feel GREAT! I've decided that one of my major goals this summer will be to finish my studies. The next chapter is really hard, I've read it and honestly, I didn't understand much.. So I'll use a Fly lady approach, baby steps... I'll do it 15 minutes a time, read a few pages and look up all the words I don't understand. It all sounds like Greek to me! Too much chemistry... But I really want to learn, so before I even pretend to study that part I'll take whatever time needed to understand it... It's all about the approach... and not quitting...

I'm also on a roll with the Wii... I've worked out for 5 days in a row now. First I thought I'd rest on Saturday and Sunday but I thought it over. I really really want to loose weight, and I do think I can find 30 minutes a day, even on weekends, to do some running or whatever on the wii. My weight is quite stable, which is really good, considering my period is on its' way and I always gain about a kilo or two... I'm sure I'll lose weight next week. I did the 10 minutes of hula and I really hated every minute of it! But I know it's going to work so I just have to hang in there and just do it, no excuses allowed! And that's it. I know I'll be happy in a few weeks time when I notice how my belly has gotten smaller.

Time to get going again!

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A Wii Challenge

I'm SOOO proud of myself!!!

When I woke up this morning the last thing I wanted to do was to work out. My whole body ached... Besides the normal pain in my sore muscles, my period will probably begin tomorrow and that always makes me feel like crap for several days before it starts... I just didn't want to move at all. First I thought I'd just skip working out for today. I mean, what difference does it make, I haven't worked out for like 4 months... So one single day won't make such a huge difference. Well, it does... Maybe not on my body but in my head it does make a HUGE difference... So I decided to stick to my new routine and do my 30 min of Wii Fit. I didn't feel like doing anything that involved thinking or complicated moves, so I just ran for 25 min and then spent 8 min playing diferent games to get my mental gold star of the day.

One thing I know is great for the belly is the hula hop. I used to be really good at it but not any more. So far I've only unlocked the 4 minutes, and oh boy, it is killing me!! My hips feel like they're made of concrete or something, it's horrible!!!! Sooo, I've decided to join a challange. I just looove challenges!

If Colleen is accepting me I'll start tomorrow.... It's a 10 min hula challenge and it's about doing at least 10  min of hula each day.Since I haven't unlocked the 10 min yet, I'll have to do the 4 min 3 times in a row... Oh my God, am I going to survive that???

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And I return to life again....

I've been lost from the blogosphere for a long time... Actually I haven't updated this blog since March and than only half heartedly... The reason? Thre molars that made my life a nightmare! In a matter of days three molars broke and if you've experienced tooth ache you know what I'm talking about - it's AWFUL! My whole life suddenly was about getting those teeth extracted... Believe me, it's not as easy as you might expect living in Spain.... I was in constant pain for over 4 months!!! Finally, 4 days ago, the second molar was extracted (the third one can be fixed) and I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...

It's 11 A.M. and so far I've cleaned the kitchen, the entrance, the sofa (hadn't done that ever, it was really full of dust bunnies and bread crumbs and who knows what...) and half the living room. Since it's Monday it's time for the weekly Home Blessing. This time I'll try to do a morethorough one since I haven't really been able to clean properly for weeks, but without trying to do it all in one day. No more crisis cleaning, thank you...

The best part of getting rid of that horrible pain is that I'm able to get back into training again. I really would love to go to a gym, but since they're really expensive and money always is a matter, I've taken out my Wii Balance Board again.


I took out the balance board yesterday and created a new profile, I want a totally fresh start. I stepped on the board to see how much I've gained these past months and well, it could have been worse... My MBI is 25,5... The game recomends us to get down to 22 MBI but I don't think that weight will look good on me since I'm the Marilyn Monroe type of girl *LOL*. My goal will be to reach BMI 23...

This morning I got on the board and oh boy, how hard everything was!!! I did 3 min of hula and nearly fainted! *LOL* One thing I always hated was the boxing, I never really understood it and today all of a sudden it all became clear and I realised that I love that boxing routine.... I was really really happy when I unlocked the 5 min routine!! In the end I did 33 min in all... I think that's enough for the forst day...

My goal will be to do 10 min running, 10 min hula, 10 min boxing and at least 5 min of something else just for fun every morning Monday to Friday.

Well, time to get back to work, I have SOOO much to do today and I'm really happy that I'm feeling my strenght coming back... In a few days I'll be my normal self again, a living tornado... *LOL*

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My own domain?

I've been thinking about getting my own domain, something like www.blancainspain.com... What do you think? I've been looking around a bit and if I'm not totally mistaken, there's hosting with the name included for about 65 Euros for a year. I think I could pay that. It's always much more fun to blog at your own domain and it's definitely what you have to have if you want to make any money out of blogging. Besides, I think I could blend two blog ideas into one, which actually could make two very mainstream blogs into one that's much more interesting.

And since we're talking about blogs... Some friends and I are talking about starting a blog on Peru. I already thought about the name and it's GREAT! If/when we agree on all the details we'll get going. It's not going to be just another "tourist goes to Machu Picho and says áaaaaah!´" kind of blog. The idea is to link together Peruvians in both Peru and Spain with people in Europe who want to visit Peru or learn more about the country, culture or cuisine or whatever. I've already talked to several friends "over there" and they are more than happy to participate in this project. So what do you think? Would you like to read and follow a blog about Peru, partly written by people living there?

Anyway, I have a LONG day ahead of me! So I'd better get going.....

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Yes, it's Monday

This weekend went by so fast! Actually I don't complain because I spent the whole weekend resting and relaxing, so I feel ready for a new week (or at least I would, if I only could keep my eyes open... *lol*). It's funny, I seem to be more tired AFTER I rest than before, why is that?

This is going to be a busy week. My kids are getting baptized on Saturday and so far I haven't prepared anything. I'm not even sure I need a godfather and godmother for them since they're 11 and 13. Ooops, I'm always leaving things for the last minute.... Anyway, it's going to be something small, just for the family. Maybe we'll invite some of their friends over for a game of Wii Party. I think that could be great fun.

Well, the kids are at school and I need to do my Home Blessing, so I'd better get going....

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It did stop raining...

After several days of raining, it finally stopped. My DS11 was supposed to play his first football game this morning, at 9.30 A.M. It was poring down all night. We knew they would suspend the game in case of rain, because they play outdoors, although it's indoor football they're playing. :-/ Anyway, it did stop in time for the game, at 8.30 A.M., but since the ground was so full of water they suspended the game anyway. :-(

The kids practising this morning while they were waiting to know if they would play or not.

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I don't get it!

I've been trying to live well and do my excercises these past weeks and at first I did lose some weight but now all of a sudden I'm gaining weight again. :-( So, what happened? I hope I'm gaining muscles, because after all, muscles are heavier than fat... But honestly, it's a bit depressing to see the scale going UP instead of going down.... It's not the way it's supposed to be....

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A whole day ahead of me

Normally I've always too much to do every day, but today for a change I haven't hardly anything to do.... It's 10.30 AM and my first and only class today starts at 7PM, so I've got 8 and a half hour to fill with whatever I want... Which actually would be to go back to bed, because this lousy weather is killing me, it's making me truly depressed. :-(

So far I've sent my kids to school, I've been at the bank and payed this month's fee for the school trip my son and his class are doing in June and I've gone for a walk along the beach.

I think I'll have another coffee and then I'll do some housework for an hour or so... I need to fold some laundry, do my Mission for today (yes, I'm a FLY baby and very proud of myself) and actually do a load of laundry which probably wont't dry for a couple of days but I'll do it anyway... So, time to get going!!!!

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WW - The beach in February

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I'm back on track

For the past weeks I've been thinking about getting back on track, doing my walks in the morning and just eat healthier. It's been a process to finally get off my butt and get going but I think I'm finally there, doing it one babystep at a time.

Several months ago I joined the NEWO group and was reading some of the e-mails but not really doing much else. Well, I'm still not doing everything but I'm reading more of the e-mails than before and I try to take in what I read. It seems to be a great method, since it's based on the FLY Lady philosophy and as you know, I LOOOOVE FLY Lady! According to Jonathan it's better to do some sort of exercice for 10 minutes a day than to beat yourself up doing 2 hours twice a month.

Since I didn't walk at all yesterday nor the day before that, my walk this morning was a bit longer (1 hour approx.) and part of the way I walked in the sand. I felt so proud of myself when I got back home so I decided I was worth a treat - I bought a big bottle of energy drink. Yes, a healthy treat... And I get to kill two birds with one stone - I get to spoil myself a little and I know that today I'll drink at least 1.5 liters. :-D

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So proud of ME!

It's Monday morning, it's only 8 A.M. and I've been up and about for an hour already. I wanted to blog all day yesterday but every time I sat down to write something got in between, so I never had a chance to concentrate...

I know it's a bit late, it's technically Monday in my part of the world, but I'm going to do a Sunday stroll anyway. Hope that's okey, Vanessa? It' still Sunday in your part of the world...

I've been really busy last week. I got a really bad cold on Wednesday and got up on Thursday with my whole body aching. But this is really not the time to be sick, so I recurred to the magical powders sold at the farmacy *lol* I just love Frenadol! I don't know what it's called in the rest of the world but I guess you can get stuff like that everywhere nowadays. A few dosis and the cold just disappears on its' own... Well, it's not as easy as that, but almost... I spent the whole day on Friday on the coach sleeping and resting, I just got up to do my clases and then back to rest.

I was quite okey on Saturday so I got up early and did some cleaning. I had the kids clean their rooms too (those of you with teens and preteens know how easy that can be sometimes *lol*). Then we went to the supermarket far, far away. I really like to shop there, their prices are low and I feel like a get a lot for my money. The only problem is the distance. It takes us about 20 minutes to walk there, each direction, so it's not only good for the economy, it's also a great workout! *lol*

One of my best friends here has a son almost the same age as my kids so he came over on Saturday evening to play. The kids had a great time!!! When things got too noisy I took them out for a walk and then we went to the beach to kick some ball. It was such a lovely evening!!!

Yesterday was a really great day. We woke up early, went to the early mass and then the kids stayed at church for their weekly youth gathering. It's a pity so few kids these days go to church but at least they have a small group of teens going every Sunday. While the kids stayed at church I went down to the beach for a walk in the sun. It was just wonderful! I walked for half an hour and came home totally energized. I decided to chech my weight, which is something I haven't done in ages... I know I fell off the wagon big time and haven't been doing any exercise or even thought about what I eat so I was really surprised to see that I've lost 1,2 kilos!!! Wow!! I really do like that!!! *GO ME* Now I've "only" got another 8 kilos to go.... And since the weather is improving and the sun is coming back it will be a lot easier. So hopefully I'll reach my goal this year and be able to wear a bikini....

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Yoga for Wii

During Christmas I bought the Yoga for Wii-"game" and I've decided that I'll try it this weekend. I haven't done any yoga at all for ages and I know it'll make me great if I get back to regular practice. I used to do yoga almost every day before, so I'm not really new to yoga, but I guess I'm like a newbie again since I haven't practised for over a year.

Anyway, I'll tell you what I think about it in a couple of days when I've had a chance to really check it out.

BTW, the sun is shining!!!! Wow... I feel so much better now... *lol* I really really am an addict to the sun....

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Slowly getting to the weekend...

It's still cold, freezing cold actually. Ok, I know.... It's not as cold as in the north of Spain where the temperatures have gone below 10 degrees C below 0, and it's definitely not as cold as in Stockholm during Christmas, but it's still way too cold for me. Here in Spain most houses don't have central heating so it's COOOOLD indoors. One funny thing about living in the Mediterranean area - during winter we PUT ON more clothes when we get indoors than when we go outdoors....

It rained for a while today, and for once that made me happy, because when it rains at least it's not as cold. But the rain didn´t last for long and the temperatures went down again, but at least it was quite nice when I went out for a while.

It's Thursday tomorrow. I only have 2 classes and they don't require much preparation, so I'll spend the morning tomorrow finishing some board games I've printed out but haven't finished yet. On Friday I only have one class and it's late in the evening, so I'm thinking about going to the library to study in the morning. I really need to get back to studying, because time flies... I thought I'd be almost done by now and nooo, I'm far from even halfway through.... :-(

I also need to think about ways to get more students, because I don't earn enough to make it on my own yet. This month things are especially tough, so for the rest of the months we can't buy anything at all, not even any more food (except milk and bread of course, my kids are still growing). If I only could get 3 more students before the end of month things would work out perfectly... Oh well, things will work out, one way or another... It's just a matter of faith...

In case you're as cold as I am, listen to this cumbia and dance your cold away...

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Lots of goals for 2011

I LOVE setting up goals for myself. Usually my goals are very long terms, spanning over a year or two, but what happens? Most of the time I get bored or sidetracked on my way and kind of change directions... That's definitely NOT a good way to reach your goals... I know I need to learn to break my goals into smaller chunks, so I can take it step by step and really achieve whatever I sat out to achieve.

On todays blog hop I came across a great idea - achieving 3 goals every 30 days and blog and twitter about it. Wow, I think I can do that... 3 simple goals... How hard can that be? It's all about taking baby steps...

Since today is the 23rd of January I'll have to wait until the end of month to join but I think that's just what I need, because it'll give me time to really think about what I want to achieve in February.

My first goal is defintely going to be: get more sleep! I go to sleep way too late. I'm a night owl and I love the peace and quiet of the night. But going to bed at 3AM when I need to get up at 7AM is not so great in the long run... I usually take a nap in the morning, but that's not really the way things are supposed to be... :-(

And the other 2 goals??? I don't know, I'll need to think about that...

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Taking a virtual stroll

I'm a bit fed up with my blog. I don't know why, because I actually love to blog and it's kind of my way to let go of steam when things get too hectic, but I've felt so drained out lately and maybe that's why I've only been twittering and not as much as I usually do. I don't know... I do need to boost my blog, that's for sure.... I've bookmarked some very interesting articles about reboosting your blog and thouhgt I'd read them on a rainy day, and well, today seems to be the perfect day...

Since I had such fun last time I joined Vanessas blog hop I've decided to join today as well. If you have a blog and don't know what to do today, do come along as well and let's go for a stroll...

It's SOOO COLD today!!! DS11 was supposed to participate in a bike race today but when we woke up and realized it's freezing cold we decided to stay at home all day. We're not even going to mass - Shame on me!! I know, today I'm a very bad Catholic but honestly, I just don't feel like leaving home... I'll just read the texts instead, snuggled up in my warm, cozy bed with a nice cup of coffee... So I'll guess that counts for only half a sin, right?

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Teaching, I love it!

As most of you know I'm an unoficial teacher. I don't have a formal degree as a teacher, but I've been working as a teacher for many, many years. Since I don't have a degree I'm not allowed to work at a public nor private school, so I've decided to work at home, giving private classes. That's not really legal either, since I'm oficially unemployed, but what can I do? I need to work and I need to make money and teaching is what I do best. I don't want to lose my time doing stupid courses to learn how to talk on the phone or use a computer, I already know that. I want to make a living for me and my kids and that's all. Besides, I know that my students learn a lot coming to classes and that will make them better prepared for the future, so I'll keep on doing my classes until I get a "real job".

To me, teaching is a way of living and I guess I'm a bit fanatic about it sometimes. Poor my kids! *lol* But since I don't have any hobbies or a wild social life I spend a lot of time working... I read as much as I can and I make board games and stuff for my classes. I always try to learn better ways to teach my students the things they need to learn to become fluent in English, or at least get to a reasonable level. Unfortunately English is taught horribly here in Spain. Most teachers don't even have a decent pronunciation... So there's no wonder people here keep on saying "jappibirtay" and "jappijaloin"...

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Swedish food

Just like any other expat there are some things I miss from the countries where I've lived. Some of the things I miss from Sweden are knäckebröd (which we can buy in some places in Spain nowadays), Kalles kaviar and black salty liqorice.

There are also lots of things that I don't miss from the countries where I've lived. Some of the things I definitely don't miss from Sweden are blodpudding (Yikes! I don't understand how people can eat blood....), pölsa and sweet brown beans...

My mom did bruna bönor & fläsk the other day. I did eat a little bit because I usually LOOVE beans, so much that a friend of mine calls me "Frejolita" (which is a Spanish nicknacme that comes from frijoles, frejoles or alubias in Spanish). I eat beans at least once or twice a week, in stews, soups and sallads, but I really don't get the idea behind SWEET beans... That's the way they eat brown beans in Sweden.

Luckily enough they serve the beans with a sort of bacon which I love, but unfortunately my belly as well since it's like 100% pure fat.... :-(

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