My card making goals for 2008

I started off on a good pace this year and made several cards each month but then when we started the horrendous home makeover all my crafting inspiration just vanished. I haven't made a single card for the past 3 months so there really wasn't much to sell this year at the Christmas fare. :-(

Now that I've got the living room back and so many new toys to play with I've decided that I need to make at least 20 cards a month and hopefully much more than that. All in all I want to make at least 300 cards next year, but if I can make 500 that would be great! Now I know where to find the card stock (Boy, was that a difficult task or what? Scrapping has not hit Morocco yet) and I have plenty of stamps, ink, embossing powder and tools so all I need is a little time and a lot of inspiration. Right now all I want to do is to get home, get my exams overwith and start playing like crazy! *lol*

A stampin' good holiday

Yesterday I went to the biggest hobby store in Stockholm. It's a true paradise for someone like me. *lol* There is so much I want to buy, but so little money. :-( I had a little less than one hour to shop so I had to be quick. I could have spent like 4 or 5 hours in there. *lol* There are so many things and techniques I want to try and the best thing about that store is that they have lots of techniques on display so you get plenty of ideas just walking around the store.

I bought 14 mounted rubber stamps (and stamps with the numbers 0 - 9, so all in all 24 stamps), one white ink pad and one ink pad for embossing. Today I bought another 14 rubber stamps! Oh boy, am I a stampaholic or what? *rotflao* I can't wait to get back home to play with my new toys! I have so many card ideas in my head so hopefully there will be hundreds of cards this spring. And hopefully I'll get enough cards done so I can finally get my card making blog going. I look forward to that! Between my new camera and my new toys I'm sure I will get crafty without problems this spring. I hope I can get back to being an active member on my favourite craft forums, because I haven't had much inspiration these past months due to the state of my home. But things are about to change. 2008 is going to be my crafting year!

A new camera!

I got a new camera for Christmas. Yey!!!! A Canon Digital Ixus 75. It's a cute little thing that fits perfectly into my jacket pocket. I also got a new memory card that can hold over 300 pictures. I've taken a lot of pictures, but I can't download them right now because my hubby's computer is full of viruses and things and no matter how much I clean it there's always something new. :-( So I prefer to wait until I'm back home in Morocco. I have so much to share with you! Now I have 2 cameras, so there will be lots of pictures. *lol*

Tomorrow I'll go to one of the biggest hobby stores in Stockholm and I hope I can find something for my great vices, scrapbooking and card making. *lol* Together with my new camera I'll have quite a lot to scrap about in the future. ;-)

It's so dark here

I haven't been to Sweden for a year and I must have forgotten about how dark it is up here this time of year. I can't really tell if it's morning, night or day here by looking out the window and frankly, it's making me rather depressed. :-( I know now that I will never move back to Sweden because I couldn't stand this darkness for months in a row.

I really love being at my parents' but this darkness makes me want to sleep all day and all night. Why is it so? Am I really that exhausted after the last months of work and studies around the clock or is the lack of daylight already taking its' toll on me? I don't know. All I know is that I'd better get my act together because there are so many people I want to meet and so many things I want to do during the few days were here and all I so is think about is going back to sleep.... That's definitely not a good sign...

I have to log out now and get back to my Linguistics. I have so much to do today, I should study at least 10 chapters and I'm still doing chapter 3. It's almost 7 PM. Oh my, I'm never going to make it, at least not if I stay behind the computer. So Over & Out!

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Last call for Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Santa Claus will bring the gifts for all the children who have behaved well during the year. I'm not sure I'm getting anything this year because maybe I haven't been such a good girl. *lol* Luckily enough I can get my own gifts if I'm not happy with what Santa brings. ;-)

Coupon Chief is a great place to get whatever you want. One thing I really, really would like to get is a new camera and accesories. My camera is really lousy, the photos turn out blurry and dark and it's so slow that all the funny moments are long gone before it's ready to take a shot. I don't think I'm getting a camera for Christmas so I think buying myself one is the only way.

And since it's Christmas time I'd love to get something to lift my spirits. It's imposible to get anything Christian in Morocco and there really isn't that much in Ceuta either so I really get blown off my feet when I look at what's available on the internet. There is so much! I wouldn't know what to choose. A visit to the Family Christians Store is really nice, they have lots of things in my taste.

Oh well, I think I'll have to keep on dreaming because in about 24 hours Santa will be here with his sack of gifts. I wonder what's in it for me....

Oh boy, what a trip!

I'm FINALLY in Stockholm, Sweden. We left home in Morocco on Wednesday morning and the plans for that day were : cross the border, take the ferry from Ceuta to Algeciras, take the bus to Malaga, spend the day in Malaga and then spend the night at a friend's together with her and her family. Then on Thursday morning we were going back to the center of Malaga to do some Christmas shopping before taking the local train to the airport. We would go Malaga - Frankfurt (Germany) and then finally Frankfurt - Stockholm and spend the night at my parents'.

Well, things did not turn out that way. First of all, we missed the ferry we had planned taking. The next one usually goes one hour later. But not this time. Due to really, really bad weather (the waves were over 4 meters high and the winds were strong) they had to close the harbours on both sides of the strait. I'll tell you more about our adventure once we're back in Morocco, because right now I'm using my dad's computer and he told me NOT to use it. *lol* So I'd better hurry before he finds out I've been using it... ;-)

We had to spend the night in the harbour, sleeping on the floor. Now I understand what it feels like to be a refugee because we were really stranded there, we could not go back home and we could not get out of Ceuta. Those were really long 36 hours we spent in the harbour, without being able to go anywhere and not being able to eat properly. But you have to look at the bright side of life, always, so we tried to make the best we could out of it. We met a lot of people and made new friends. We ate military foods (they gave us food boxes) and slept on military blankets. All in all a very different experience. So this is a Christmas we never will forget.

We did manage to get to Stockholm. One day later than expected and extremely tired and dirty but now we're here, and I feel really blessed to be alive and together with my family.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy holidays!

Eid Mubarak Said to all Muslims! And Merry Christmas to all Christians & Happy New Year to everyone who celebrate the new year. In a few hours I'm going to get up again and make us ready to go to the mainland. We're going to visit a friend in Malaga and o Thursday we'll continue our trip to Stockholm, Sweden. I'm taking a few days off and will do my best to enjoy myself. *lol*

Update - the living room

Well, I'm ALMOST done with the living room, about 2 weeks too late. This is what it looked like yesterday.



It still needs a lot of work and some decoration, but as a whole, we've got our living room back!

Exams!

Now it's official, the list with the dates and hours for the exams. I will have an exam a day between January 21 and January 25. Woohooo!!! An exam a day, I will become a nervous wreck.:-(

Oh well, I'd better get back to packing. We're leaving on Wednesday morning and I haven't even started packing yet...

Life after Christmas

It's that time of year again! Christmas time. A lot of people feel the need to get back in shape with a weight loss program after weeks of over eating. And that's fine. Whatever suits you and your lifestyle. This is one of the newest diets. It's called the Magnetic Diet Weight Loss Program and it combines eating certain foods, exercises and meditation.

Just remember, if you have any health issues, go see your doctor before you start any diet or exercise program, to be on the safe side.

Where there's life there's hope

These are some pictures I took this morning, while walking my kids to my friend's house. I think they represent Morocco very well. Moroccans are strong. No matter how hard their lives are, they survive! It's amazing how tough they are and I love watching how they are able to find solutions to every kind of problem. And these plants are the same. How can they grow up there?

New year, new host?

I'm thinking about getting my own domain. I really like Blogger, I think it's a great host for non commercial blogs. I love blogging and I would like to take it to another level. I'm thinking about getting more serious and becoming a pro blogger. In order to do so, I need a few things. A host and a domain name, for example.

Web Hosting Choice (http://www.webhostingchoice.com) is, according to their website an "advertisement free guide to choosing the right web host for your personal or business site". Just what I need! I've had a look around and so far I like what I see. The layout is nice, no disturbing colors or ads that make you dizzy, and most important - it's easy to navigate. There is a great deal of information for webmaster newbies. The Quick Start Guide is so easy to understand that I think even my dad would get it. What I really like about this site is that there is so much information and that you can find exactly what's right for you, based on these four items: monthly cost, setup fee, diskspace and bandwidth. That makes it so much easier to get something you're going to be happy with.

More photos

This shot is from the same street as my previous post. If you look closely you can actually see the shop.

There were some questions about the shop so I'd better explain a little bit. Shops in Morocco are called "hanut". Most of the time the shop is so small you can't even go inside, it's often just a few square meters. The shop keeper sits on a chair inside, sometimes behind a counter, sometimes there isn't even room for a counter. There are things EVERYWHERE, stacked from floor to ceiling. In the same shop you can often buy bread, butter, cheese, detergent, bleach, umbrellas, cigarettes, lemonade, juice, flour, milk, egg, toilet paper, shampoo, candy, canned food, lighters, baby wipes and LOTS, LOTS more. They usually open around 10 AM, close by 1.30 PM and then open around 5.30 PM and close after 10 PM. Some shops don't close until 2 AM.

There are shops like this everywhere. The shop keeper knows everyone in the neighborhood so he sells whatever he knows the people want to buy. *lol* Some of them even change money (after all, we live close to the border), help you with paper work and are a helping hand in general. And if you don't have enough money oe day to pay for what you buy, no problem. You can pay another day. My life definitely would be a lot harder without our local shop, that's for sure.

WW - A local shop

How to clean your house...

... the ECO Friendly way.

This is a great link to a series of short films about how to clean your house, clean a window and how to clean glassware so it sparkles. There are lots of films with How To instructions. I'm totally into the eco way of life so I try to learn as much as I can about alternative ways to clean and wash and recycle. And it is actually helping my wallet as well, because vinegar is a lot cheaper than fabric softener and bleach.

Autumn colors

I've been going through some of my photo CD:s and I found lots of photos from when we still lived in Sweden. These are photos I took one day when the boys and I went for a walk in our neighborhood and played in the fallen leaves. One of the few things I miss about Sweden is the wonderful autumn colors and the crisp air. The boys and I used to go for long walks almost every weekend. Nowadays we don't do that as often as we should but I think I'm going to change that as soon as we're back from our Christmas trip. Walking is good for both body and soul and it's a good way to connect with your kids.

A fun and different gift

I have come across a really fun and different gift for those who already have "everything". What about a personalized car license plate? Number Plates - Funny & Novelty I'm not sure you can actually drive around with one of these on your car, but it sure makes a great decoration on a wall or a door or why not at the entrance? I'm sure the kids would love to have one in their rooms. At least I know mine would.

I had a good time designing my own plate. There is a wide selection of templates to choose from, like Cartoon characters, cars, bikes, cricket, special events (a birthday number plate would make a nice gift, wouldn't it?), football, flags and lots more. I just might get one of these for a person I know, it would be the perfect gift. *lol*

And then there were two...

... sick kids at home. Oh no, how am I going to study with 2 kids at home? The "Mama, I'm thirsty!","Mama, I'm cold", "Mama, I'm bored. Play with me" will be double. I don't know how I'm going to manage. My To Do List for today is very long and I get the impression that I'm not going to finish... And I HAVE TO finish an exam I have to deliver by Wednesday, printed and ready.

Or maybe they will keep each other company and won't spend the whole day arguing, so there's a slight chance I get a few hours of peaceful study time. I hope so, because I'm still behind schedule and the exams are around the corner. This year I'm not really enjoying Christmas, I don't know where my Christmas spirit is... I hope it will appear as soon as I deliver the exam and can start to think about other things as well. At least I've begun to decorate the house a little bit. Not much and not enough, but at least you can see that Christmas is celebrated in this house. *lol*

I'd rather look at furniture...

I should be studying Linguistics right now but I'm a bit bored. Having sick kids are getting on my nerves and I'm having a hard time concentrating on my studies. So I decided that I needed a break. I decided I'd look at furniture instead. *lol* Today a friend of mine asked me what I would do if I had the chance to decorate a home all by myself, money being no problem, and being able to chose exactly what I want without having to consult with the rest of the family. Wow, isn't that a great thought? What would you do? Would you stay in your home or would you buy a bigger/smaller one?

I ended up on Furniture From Home, the bedroom store. I've been there before so it was easy to find what I was looking for. I want a new bed. Well, actually, I'd love to be able to get myself a whole new bedroom set. So let's pretend that I can pick whatever I like and that I'm the owner of a big apartment with at least one huge balcony. My choice for my big bedroom would be Cherry Hardwood Marble Top Bedroom Furniture Set or the Cherry Hardwood Marble Top Bedroom Furniture Set.

And in my pretend home I would have at least two livingrooms. One Moroccan with couches and one European with "normal" sofas. Actually I don't like leather furniture. I don't know why, I just dislike it. But I did find a sofa I like. It's called Chaise Couch Lounger Sectional Sofa Set and it reminds me a bit of the Morrocan style.

After this trip to the furniture store it's about time I got back to my studies. Because I need to study so I can get a well payed job and buy that huge apartment with views of the Mediterranean. *lol* If I don't study there won't be an apartment, so now I'm off to work on the apartment. ;-)

Playgrounds

One thing I really miss about living in Europe are the playgrounds. There isn't a single playground in my town, in spite of having a population of over 30.000 habitants during winter. There's not a single place where the kids can swing or play ball, except in the streets or on the beach.

I don't let my kids play in the street. I think it's too dangerous because there are a lot of cars on our street and most people drive too fast. So my kids just don't play outdoors as much as they should. There isn't any good squares where they could play either. Luckily enough there's the new area they constructed in spring, just by the beach, where they can run around and play. Kids need to be outdoors for at least a few hours a day, they need to run free and get dirty.

The play thing in the picture is from a park in Spain which we visited in November. My kids were so happy to be able to play in such a thing again. They really miss that. But what can I do? Except for crossing the border as often as I can to take them to the playgrounds so they can play.

My chop stick boy

My son B loves everything Japanese. He knows how to eat with chop sticks and does so every time he gets a chance. He even eats macaronis and cheese with chop sticks! He would eat noodles every day if he got to choose. ;-)

He is actually studying Japanese. By himself. I've downloaded some information from the net and some dialogues in Japanese and whenever he has a chance he listens to that. And he always watches TV with a note block and a pen close by, in case there's some written Japanese he can copy. I think it's pretty amazing that a 10 year old boy can decide to study something as difficult as Japanese and he is actually learning. He knows how to write and pronounce several of the signs and he's able to write some names in Japanese. Do I have to say that I'm very, very proud of my son?

Want to play on line?

I have written a few posts before about betting and online gambling. The first time I wasn't really sure what it's all about because I have never been a gambler but the more I look into it the better it looks. *lol* It really can be a quick way to earn some good money. I know, it can also be a way to lose money, but I think it's all about using your common sense. The best thing is to a) only play on safe places, like bet365, with a secure wallet system, and b) decide on a playing budget before you start.

I think the budget part is really important, because if you do you can enjoy playing without having to worry about what would happen in case your luck changes. I had a look around the website and found this information, which I think says it all: This facility enables customers to limit the amount of money that they are able to deposit online into their account on either a 24 hour or a 168 hour (7 day) basis. These amounts may be revised downwards at any time but any increase will only be implemented after 24 hours following the request.. They seem to take a pride in providing their customers with a secure setting so playing can be fun all the way through and not make you wake up with an economic hangover.

Oh no...

Now it's B:s turn to be sick. Is this never going to stop? Can I make it through without getting sick? What happens if I get sick too? No, that's not posible because if I do, who's going to look after us?

G has been sick on and off for over a week now. First he stayed home from school last Friday because he had fever and he was quite ill. Then on Saturday morning he was okey but Saturday night he had fever again. He was feeling really bad Sunday morning (so no church :-() and then on Sunday night he was okey. I wanted him to stay at home on Monday but he refused to, he had an exam and he wanted to do it. So I let him go to school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. When I went to pick them up at school he had fever again and when we came home it was 39 degrees Celsius. :-( He has been in bed for the most part since then. Today he seems to be fine.

Last night B:s temperature started to rise and right now it's 38,5. He's in bed, but his brother doesn't let him rest. When G was sick, B spent most of the time in his room, playing and reading, but G just can't be alone. He has to stay close to his brother all the time, so when B:s sick he doesn't get the rest he deserves unless I spend a lot of time entertaining G. I hope B will be fine in a few days time and that I can resist the virus, because there's no way I can be sick right now.

Exam preparation software

This is a something I know just too well. Going back to school is not just about learning because it's fun, it's also about preparing for exams, learning a lot of useful/useless information by heart and read more pages than you care to remember.

I'm always on the lookout for things that will help me prepare for my exams. As I told you in a previous post, I'm not doing too well. So far I haven't been lucky when it comes to my studies. First of all I missed the first month of classes and so far I haven't been able to catch up. I have been looking around the Internet to see if I could find useful things to help me prepare the exams, but unfortunately there's not much on Spanish, Spanish literature, Linguistics or Phonetics. But I keep on looking. I did find one interesting thing though, exam-prep.com, which is for people studying Real Estate, Real Estate Appraisal, Home Inspection, Insurance, Mortgage Lending and Securities. They sell a full range of study material and Exam Prep Software, suitable for people in different US states. From what I can see this is a great thing to have if you're in that walk of life. The software is divided into several areas. The Review area gives you interactive questions and answers (and thus checking your knowledge) and the Exam area will present you with an unlimited number of test exams. I wish I could find something like this on Latin, Linguistics or Phonetics. Then I would buy it right away!

The 30 Day Organization Challenge

The winners to the challenge have been notified and as expected, I didn't win any prizes. But you know what? I don't mind. First of all, because I didn't quite finish on time and there's still a lot of work to do in my living room before I'm done. But at least we've got our living room back and that what matters most. So I already feel like a winner. ;-) And because the other girls have done a great job. Have a look for yourself over at I´m an Organizing Junkie.

I will keep on organizing and improving my home over the coming months. I know fairly well what I want to do so it's all about having time (and money!) to achieve that. But I will get there, one day... *lol*

So grateful

When my son B was born he suffered from a thing called Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS). It is an extremely critical situation because as many as 20 % of the babies in the US that suffers from MAS die and among those who survive most kids suffer from a series of long term effects. Outside of the USA the mortality rate is even bigger. My son is 10 years old now but he still suffers from some of the side effects, like asthma and poor coordination. But he was lucky, he got the care he needed. At the hospital where he was born there was no special team for newborns with lung diseases so he had to be transported to another hospital. At that time there was only one hospital in the whole northern part of Europe with ECMO-machines and that was the hospital he was sent to.

When there is an emergency such as my son's I'm glad there are things like air ambulance. They are aircrafts with state of the art medical equipment, flight nurses and flight paramedics on board. Like a miniature hospital really.

I'm so grateful my son is alive! And every time I think about how close we were to losing him I start to cry. It really is a miracle when someone as sick as he was is able to pull through and survive. I'm so tremendously grateful to the doctors, surgeons, nurses and every one else who took care of my son and helped him back to life.

Only a few weeks left!

No, I'm not talking about Christmas, I'm taking about my exams. And I think I'm going crazy.... Things are not going my way when it comes to my studies. :-(

I take 5 classes this first semester and then I'll take 6 classes next semester. Before the classes began I thought it would be a lot easier and that I would pass at least 4 exams in February but no, that will not happen. Right now I'd be happy if I pass 2 of my classes in February because I'm too far behind.

Being a sort-of single mom with two kids, working part time as a teacher and studying full time - that's just plain impossible to cope with. But I'm not giving up! I know I'm a great teacher and I know what I want to do with my life, so I just need to take it slow. Ok, so I won't pass all the exams in February, that's okey. I have two options for the classes I don't pass in February - either do the exams that correspond to the second half of the class in June and the first half in September OR do the whole class in September. Either way I will have to spend the summer studying. Oh well, that's life.... I'm glad I live by the beach because I can take the kids to the beach and study while they play in the sand. That's not such a bad thing. *lol*

Bedding for Christmas?

I have never thought about giving bedding for Christmas but then I came across this site, Visionbedding.com, and thought "why not?". My mother is crazy about giving away home made gifts and personalized pillow cases is one of her specialties. It's a nice gift, so a bedspread or duvet would be even better gifts.

Personally I would not put flag bedding on my beds. It's not my style. But I know that a lot of people like to have their flag everywhere and in that case a flag bedding would be the perfect gift. You can even have throw pillows and lap blankets to go with it.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

There are several persons who have inspired me. One of them is Mother Teresa. I recently bought a DVD about her life and it's a great inspiration to me. She was a true saint and I wish I had the faith and courage to be more like her. We all have a lot to learn from her.

I truly believe she was right when she said:

There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. We believe our work should be our example to people.

That's one of the reasons why I feel at home here in Morocco. Most people are Muslims and have their faith and their traditions. But they accept me being different and the vast majority don't mind me being Catholic, as long as I don't talk bad about their religion. And I won't, because I accept that they believe in a different way and I don't think I have the right to tell them they are wrong. Because, who am I to know? Only God can judge us humans when it comes to faith. I try to be a good example to people, to let them know what I believe in and what I stand for. I think that's the only thing I can do.

Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.

Do you want to know more about Mother Teresa? Here's her biography, her words and the reasons of her canonization.

Traveling by plane

Have you decided yet where you're going to spend Christmas? At home or visiting somebody? Or maybe you're one of the lucky few who go away on trips to exotic places as soon as Christmas comes close. The boys and I are off to Sweden to spend a few days with their father and my parents. I can't wait to see them again!

In case you live outside of the US and want to go there for Christmas, it's about time to get on with the planning and get the tickets as soon as possible. Look out for the Holiday Offers, there is much money to be made in that area.

If I had the posibility to spend the holidays in the US I wouldn't think twice about that. Dialaflight has flights to USA every day and they also have several other destinations. I think spending the holiday in USA would be nice for a change.

Olives

One thing I really like about Morocco are the olives. I LOVE olives!!! The olives here are not expensive at all, and they come in all kinds of shapes, colors and tastes. It's my favorite snack when I'm watching TV, I love olives in my sandwiches and I usually add quite a few to my salads. When I make bread I like to add some choppes olives to give the bread a better taste and make them healthier.

Eating olives is good for your health. Read more about the benefits. Olive oil is even healthier. It's so versatile! I only fry in olive oil these days, because I'm afraid of getting cancer. I use olive oil for a number of things - to fry, in salads, salsas, some soups, on my bread... And I use it on my skin and in my hair. Maybe that's why my skin is still like a little girl's. *lol*

Beautiful holiday cards

It's December 4th and I still haven't even started making my Christmas cards. There is so much to do this year! I don't know if I'll make it on time, time is running up. :-( I'm actually thinking about ordering my Christmas cards on line instead. Even if you buy Christmas photo cards it's still not like a store bought card. It's more personal than the store bought card, because you chose the photo and in a way it's much more appreciated than the home made crafted cards. The Christmas card is in itself a gift, especially to those you don't meet very often and you want to keep updated on how your kids are growing. I ordered my Christmas cards online one year and the cards that year were a great success. I know my relatives cherish them.

At VistaPrint it's easy to personalize the holiday cards. There are several templates to chose from, both religious and whimsical. There are also templates for other religions, like Hannukha and Kwansaa cards, but several religions are missing. I guess they will have to chose one of the more general templates. And there are lots of great templates.

Okey, off I go to have a look at the templates...

WW - And the bride arrived...

****************************************************************************

I know this is supposed to be a "wordless" post but there have been so many questions about the box that I thought I'd better answer them here.

Morocco is a Muslim country and according to Moroccan traditions the bride has her wedding party with her family and friends and the groom has his party elsewhere with his family and friends. The bride's party usually begin around 6 PM and ends around midnight (but that depends a lot on local traditions) while the groom's party usually begins after 8 PM and often doesn't end until 6 AM or later. When the bride's party is over, she gets into a box like this one to be carried to the groom's home or the place where his party is. On the way to the groom they have to pass by a mosque and a special prayer is said to wish the girl luck and happiness in her marriage. The box is TINY! I would never be able to get in there, I'd be claustrophobic. *lol* The girls here grow up knowing that they are going into the box and think that's okey. But things are changing here and nowadays a lot of brides refuse to go into the box and go by car instead. *lol* I took the photo at a wedding I went to last year. It was around 8 AM and the wedding just ended and the staff began to clean the place. Therefore the broom. *lol* I wanted to have a picture of the box so I sneaked up when no one was around and took the photo.

Snowmobiles

Do you know what a snowmobile is? No? It's a a land vehicle propelled by track at the rear and skis up front for steering. It's an exciting way to travel in areas with lots of snow because you can get to places you wouldn't otherwise. In spite of being born and bred in Sweden I've never traveled by snowmobile in Sweden, because there just isn't enough snow in Stockholm. But my uncles and cousins in Finland have several of them so I'm very familiar with snowmobiles. They are great fun!

In case you've never tried going by snowmobile and you're planning a snowmobile tour, maybe this press release can be of interest:

Lanaudière, Snowmobile Country,
announces the opening of 350 km of trails

For more than 30 years, Lanaudière has been a snowmobiling capital!

Rawdon, November 30, 2007 – Mother Nature has been busy during the past week, covering the Lanaudière landscape with an average of 45 cm (18 inches) of snow and more in the northern part of the region. Snowmobile enthusiasts can now start their engines for a new season with 350 kilometres (161 miles) of trails open in northern Lanaudière.

These are the areas that are currently accessible, where conditions are good with new snow coverage:

• Mont-Tremblant National Park (start at Pimbina entrance)
• Certain areas in Saint-Zénon
• Certain areas in Saint-Michel-des-Saints

For precise and accurate information, contact the snowmobile clubs concerned directly (Club Saint-Donat at 819 424-7988; Club snowmobile du royaume at 450 884-5762).

To find out about trail conditions (updated regularly), weather, touring suggestions or order your free copy of our new snowmobile trail map, just visit www.snowmobilecountry.ca or call 1 800 363-2788.

Please note that lakes are not yet frozen over.

Tourisme Lanaudière reminds you of the importance of driving safely and respectfully. Permission to pass through private property is difficult to conserve and represents a privilege to users. Respect for property and words of thanks to owners are gestures that are greatly appreciated, and it is equally important to respect signs and trail markers.


Source: Maryline Lafrenière, Communication Agent
450 834-2535
lafreniere@lanaudiere.ca

A training course

I have completed my first month as a payroll teacher. I feel really exhausted but also very, very happy. Finally I've found the job for me. Being a teacher is what I'm supposed to do, I'm sure of that now.

I have had several jobs before this one, I've worked as a nursery teacher (working with kids aged 1 to 6), a substitute teacher for grades 1 - 3 (kids aged 7 to 9), a waitress, an interpreter, translator and a cook, among other things. The one I liked the best was being a SAHM and in a way I miss "just being at home", but at the same time I know I need to work and have a social life. I don't really work for the money, because our center doesn't get any funds so the tuition fees goes to pay the bills in the first place and then there's a small part that goes to the teachers. I work because I was getting too isolated at home. I rarely left home, except for picking up my kids at school and I hardly ever had any adult conversations. That was getting on my nerves because I need to communicate with people, I really need to have a social life.

Next weekend I'm going to spend in class, but this time as a student. I'm going to a training course to become a better teacher. I'll have to ask my MIL if she can look after the kids because I can't bring them to class with me and I can't leave them alone. I hope she won't mind.

The teachers at the training course all work for the Instituto Cervantes, a Spanish world wide organization, with libraries and Spanish courses in several countries. In the US there are centers in Albuquerque, Chicago, Seattle and New York. This is going to be my third training course and I'm really looking forward to assisting because they are usually very good and aimed exactly at teachers like us. It's going to be so much fun!

All I want for Christmas

Overstock.com is hosting the All I want for Christmas Giveaway! It starts on December 3rd (today!) and ends on December 7th so you'd better hurry. Unfortunately it's only open to US residents, otherwise I would have been the first one to register. But I still can tell you all about what a great contest this is, can't I? *lol*

It's really easy to enter. All you have to do is to register and pick a gift. You don't need to buy anything to be able to enter the contest. You can enter the contest once a day, so go on, don't be shy! This is a great one so don't miss out. Honestly, how often do you get to pick your own gift? Once you've registered your e-mail address you get to pick the gift you'd like to win. There are many, many things to chose from. Just one thing though - it can not cost more than $1,000.00. *lol* Can you believe that? That is a LOT of money... And it could be all yours.

Once you're registered you can then invite up to 5 friends. Each day during the Promotional Period, one Entrant and that Entrant’s Entrant Friends will each be awarded: one $1,000.00 Overstock Gift Card toward the purchase of Entrant and Entrant Friend’s selected item. And then there's the Grand Prize where one Entrant will win one $5,000.00 Overstock Gift Card. Wouldn't you like to be the lucky one? I definitely would.*lol*

Check out this video for more information.



If I could participate I 'd invite Amy at Tiny Blessings, Jenn at Who has time to scrapbook?, Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie, Musings of a Housewife and I should bef olding laundry. If you haven't visited their blogs yet, pay them a visit since they have great blogs.

Another before and after

This is G:s room, the way it looked in September. Yes, it's a fridge standing there, in his bedroom. :-( At that time we didn't have a kitchen due to the makeover so I had to have the fridge in his room. I had the room painted in September and since then I've been working on getting it nice and tidy and cozy. Well, this is what it looked yesterday after the delivery guys brought us the desks.
There is still a lot to do in this room. I will add some shelves and a cupboard. My progress is slow but I'm getting there, in due time.*lol* Baby steps....

Before and After

Here's another room I've been working on, my son B:s room. This is what it looked like this summer:


Horrible, isn't it? Due to the makeover we had to put everything in this room. It took me a while to get it back to normal again. This is what the room looks like now, with the new closet and the new desk.

A new TV for Christmas

No, I'm not planning on getting a new TV for Christmas but I wouldn't mind if I did get one. *lol* Our TV is 2 years old and will have to last for a few more years. But the prices are going down and soon everyone will have a plasma TV at home. I don't, yet, but I have to confess that I'm really tempted when I look at the prices at SecondAct, an authorized dealer of Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba, Denon, Marantz, JVC, Hitachi and other brands. They are opportunity buyers specializing in HDTVs and offer deals on products that are factory refurbished, factory closeouts and overstocks, end-of-life or open box.

The Great Deal of the Day offers a huge discount on a single item for a 24 hour period. At 7 AM CST every day there's a new deal So if you're looking for a TV, don't forget to check back every day to see if the deal is what you're looking for.

Final update on the Organization Challenge

Well, I didn't finish on time. :-( I had so many things not happening, things that I counted on, like getting my kitchen furniture and getting the furniture for the boys' rooms. Well, that didn't happen, so the things that were supposed to go back into the kitchen are still in the living room. And there are still two boxes of kids' stuff in there. But I'm still pleased with what I've done. The living room looks A LOT better! Just look for yourself:

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

There is still a lot to do. I have to "dress" the sofas. I washed the covers but didn't have time to put them back on (you can see them on the right hand corner of the sofa). I still need to get the CD:s and DVD:s organized and I need to get rid of the remaining boxes. But at least we do have a working living room again and we're able to sit down and watch TV.

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Having to rely on other people to do their part and in the end realize that they were not going to do their part. In the end I just had to get going and do the best I could of the situation, which meant I did not finish on time. :(

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
As soon as I finish the CD/DVD part of the room I won't accept any CD/DVD:s on the table anymore. I don't want to have a lot of things just hanging around, for weeks, like before.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Most of it went to its' proper place in another room or to a new place in the home. So I didn't just throw things away from the living room, I actually took the time to find a new and better place for each item. I also gave away a few things, so they could bless someone else. The rest of it went into the garbage, because it was either broken or something that had to be thrown away anyway.

4. Now that you have completed the challenge, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Oh yes!!! Having regained the living room makes such a huge difference in my life. Hopefully I'll be able to have people coming over again, because I no longer have to be ashamed of my living room.

6. Why do you think you should win the challenge?
I know I'm not going to win anything, but if I did have a chance I'd say that I deserved to win because living in the middle of a makeover is really, really hard and getting back on your feet isn't easy. Anyway, I had a good time doing this and participating in the challenge really kept me motivated and helped me get on with things and not give up. :-)

The other participants are found at I'm an Organizing Junkie