Hey dudes!

Thanks for coming back.

I'm been so damn busy, so much happening. Anyway, main thing is I've been working on a super cool product. www.speekee.com It's fandabbydozy.

I hope to be a more regular blogger again, soon.

Ahhhh, Joe has finally caught the dreaded chicken pox, after years of dodging the bullets, it's finally cornered him. Poor chap. He's thankfully taking it all in his stride and only complains about "this varisela is itchy". Bless.

So, Mags MUST be next....

The builders start major works tomorrow so my life is about to get MORE complicated and MORE stressful for a while at least.... God knows if I'll get chance to blog before the end of the year, please let me be in your thoughts!

Life in Spain is going well, we have a routine now more or less and at the risk of being an old, bore, it suits me better....

Weather is still chilly, but sunny por lo menos.

Big shout out to Mazza and Aido - have a great trip - you guys deserve it. xxxx

 

Happy 1st February.

God, I'm a rubbish blogger these days.... Anyway, all ok here. Dave and Rox came to stay, which was cool.  Jan, Aaron and Eve are due on Saturday. And we've had quite a few guests too. I'm teaching yoga 4 times per week now, which is fitting in really well with the morning routine/chores.

Weather is absolutely beautiful (in the sun). Still very cold though. We even drove up to the Grazalema and made a snow man, threw snow balls and sledged a bit. Jim was in his element. Visited Zahara de la Sierra, which was really pretty.

Dolores, the church bell riner, has knitted me the most beautiful shawl, I'm soooo chuffed with it. Pink, orange, blue, yellow wool colour mix - really cool.

H A P P Y  N E W   Y E A R!

I wish you all a healthy and peaceful 2006.

I had been hoping to blog a list of hilights and lowlights of 2006 (it was my dad's idea), but barr all the horrors and delights in the worldwide news the ONLY thing I could think of which related specifically to me - which incidentally fits into both categories - was our move from the UK to Spain and with it our complete lifestyle change.

Despite, all the frivolous and jokey entries posted here, it has nearly killed me. (But, I'm still alive!) 

The lowlights:

The climate (boiling in summer 40+ degrees and freezing in the winter, due to lack of heating in our house! (To be rectified for next winter!!!); the huge, old house; the narrow streets and lack of parking; scraping the car; the car breaking down completely and leaving us stranded; the language barrier and largely the painful process of Joe learning Spanish from scratch; being far away from my family and friends; the manana attitude;

Hey, it's not all lowlights though......

The highlights:

I've found a new hobby and something I love in dancing and with it lots of new friends; news that my brother and his wife are expecting their second babe; Su Doku; Pepa; lots of visits from family and friends; going to the beach; tapas; toast with oil and tomato; the manana attitude; learning to ride my white vespa; Maggie's first steps and words; Joe speaking Spanish; yoga classes; the sunshine; our new street and with it the new friends and neighbours;

There must be loads more - sorry hope I haven't left anyone out!!

Hey Kit, get your bloomin' butt in gear an hop on the plane! Can't wait.

Hey Jo, still haven't posted your Christmas pressie - sorry.

Hey Rox, you comin'?

CU soon Dunney.

Have a great year.

XXXX

Feliz Navidad.

Sorry for not sending any christmas cards this year, I've just been rubbish.

Joe's birthday party went well, as did the live nativity, which took over the town on Saturday night. Wow!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful festive season. Drink and eat lots - yummy, can't wait.

lots of love or do I mean lol?

xxxx

Last week we had 2 Bank holidays.

Tuesday was Constitution Day and Thursday was Immaculate Conception today. So this meant that Monday and Friday became "days off" too.

So on Thursday we headed off for the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We parked in the largest underground car park (apparently) basically the whole inside of the mountain is car park. All very well organised: we donned our ski outfits and hit the pistes. Wee hay! Fun.

A bit chilly on the old face.for Maggie.

The next day we visited Jose, our old mountain chumb.  We'd aready spoken to his mm who told us he was living in his cortijo. We were a bit shocked at this since we'd visited his cortijo before and knew what it was like. Anyway we arrived in Cadiar - a tiny village deep in the mountains -  visited his mum and dad and bought a couple of their delicious hams, some oil, wine, and other bits. We then got some vague directions from his dad and headed off for the cortijo.

We had a bit of trouble finding it and asked a lady walker. She knew who we were looking for and said he was medio drogado "in a bad state"...?! Anyway, she pointed us in the right direction and we saw him driving his little van up the dirt track. It was great to see him and he looked fine. We ate meat in sauce in the sun and he took the kids on his horse. Good call.

We also spent a few hours in Granada. Stunning city.

I AM ANNOYED.

I AM VERY CROSS.

Yes, Amazon have managed to ruin my (well your actually) Christmas. I thought I was being really clever ordering stuff online and getting it sent to my ma and pas house where I could then wrap it up AND only have to pay normal postage - no overseas stuff necessary and no carrying loads of extra heavy Chrissie pressies to UK from here.

Well, today they tell me 16 - YES SIXTEEN - of my items will not be dispatched until after 25 December... more specifically between 29th December and 1st February. What bloody use is that?

Today was C O L D. It was about 11 degrees... well not too bad, I'm sure you're thinking, but the narrow streets don't allow the sun in now (it's too low) and they become "wind tunnels". Then, the electricity went off at 3pm until 7pm! Ahhhh. And then the water was limited. As it got dark, we lit candles and felt a bit sorry for ourselves.

Luckily, we were invited out for dinner since it's St Andrew's Day. So we went to Pepa's and celebrated Andres's day.

Happy St Andrew's Day, dad. How many years retired now? (Is that too rude to blog?)

Today is Sunday and after clearing out the kids toy boxes in preparation for Joe's birthday, Christmas and now Reyes (the 3 Kings*!) we went to the Grazalema (the countryside) for lunch and a nice walk along a river. It's been pretty cold, you know 15 degrees. lol

Tomorrow, I'm off to Jerez Christmas shopping, so place your orders now. Only light non-breakable items will be considered.

Maggie has THE WORST nappers I've ever seen or smellt (2 teeth cutting). The poop is like bogies and the stench... well I had to open the window, clean my teeth, as well as the usual hand scrub after changing her this morning. Jeepers.

On Saturday evening, Joe and I went to watch the launch of the LIVE NATIVITY in the local theatre. It looked beautiful - real animals, real people [Mary, Joseph, shepherds, Kings], even a real baby [changed every 2 hours apparently; I mean they swop the baby - to give it a break!]. Soon the nativity scene will become a permanent feature of the old town (you'll be able to see it on the webcam), straw will be sprinkled all over the streets and cheesy pan pipe muzak will play day and night.... ahhhh can't wait.



* Yes, I think it's the 5 or 6 of January (what a philistine, eh?) when the Kings come and leave pressies.  They will also be walking through the streets throwing sweets! Wow.

Yesterday, after school and nursery, me, Joe and Mags, drove out to La Parilla Alta to help my good friend (also called Jo AND husband called JIM! - most confusing) to pick olives from her grove. 

We had a lot of fun, climbing trees, letting the olives plop down onto (the heads and) nets below.  I tried an olive - wow! it was a super intense flavour of, yep you guessed it - OLIVE OIL. Just couldn't resist the urge.

Anyway, we're going back for another session tomorrow and then we'll take the crates of olives down to the local mill to get transformed into oil. Yummacious.

Last weekend we spent a lovely few days with Chrissy Bromide, Sally and baby Alex. Visited Ronda and Cadiz and got loads of good tips off Sally re website.... thanks Sally!  I can't believe these are frends we've known for nearly 15 years, I mean that's AGES. It was great to catch up, all too quickly over, sadly. See you soon.

Yesterday Joe started being sick at about 6pm and then slept it off.  Well, until 3.30am and then he got all chatty, "Mummy is Felix a teacher at my school?" (He's the caretaker). "Mummy where does Señorita Isabel live? (She's his English teacher). I had trouble coming up with any lucid answers. Lo siento mi amor..... Anyway, the main thing is he's fine now and went to school. BUT Jim is suffering, now Sally also had a day of sickness, so I think there's something going round..... :-(