Happy Birthday Maria!!!

We were trying to do a nice little portrait to send to my mum who's birthday it is today... shambolic results of course... but funny! I think we need a tripod... But the important thing is that today is my Mum's birthday! She's the grand old age of 58! I can only humbly hope that one day I can be even a tiny bit as good as she is with me, with the wee Sienna... I am truly blessed to have such an amazing mum. It got me thinking that when I'm 58 Sienna will be 27!!!


First take... its like this all the time...


Mildly better... but still chaotic

Frustration thy name is... ME!

I am going crazy today as I can't quite get my head around KLM and Lufthansa's pet in cabin carrier sizes. Both airlines will allow a max height of 20cm (8'') but I can not for the life of me find a single carrier that meets this requirement, they are all taller... some by 1,5cm and others by 4cm but still... a max height is a max height and one does not want to risk experiencing any more stress than need be when traveling internationally with a pet (and a small child)... just writing that makes me think that we are insane for even contemplating this journey... but still, we have to go home for xmas and I don't know anyone who is in the market to mind our dog for 3 weeks while we are in Canada... Calling the airlines has not produced any help... they only have the same info that is detailed on their website to relay to me... I think its quite possible that my head may eject my brain by means of a massive explosion as I can't process the amount of frustration that this is causing me... I guess someone needs to take up yoga or some calming thing...

I appologise in advance if my brain splatters all over your monitor as you read this.

Its was all good...

The wee one seems to love her new school and was so elated and excited from all the days activities! Even though she was shattered she had a hard time settling down last night when she returned home. Its hard to see her there but its so important for her to learn and grow... all parents go through this but I guess until its your sprog you don't quite get that heart wrenching feeling. Don't get me wrong, I am also happy to report that I have also experienced a bit of elation myself as for the first time in ages I've had some time to myself without feeling guilty that I am not with her... not that I've not got other things to keep me busy but a bit of time even to clean the microwave (I know, how sad is that?) is well appreciated.

The job search is finally over, I'm not going to go into too many details until the ink has dried on the signed offer, but its nice to know that we'll soon be back on track. They seem like a very nice company and are even so kindly accommodating our trip to Canada this xmas. Now if we could only find a half decent photography agent for Fredu it might boulster some work his way too... we can but try no?

Someone started their first day at nursery school!

She was all smiles this morning on her way out the door to her first day at nursery school. Its pretty exciting as we're all ramping up for me to return to work and start a new chapter! Lilli dog is over the moon as she thinks we've finally gotten rid of that 'thing' that seems to take up all of our attention... Just wait till 17h when she returns... Lilli will be beside herself.


All smiles with daddy! And look it finally stopped raining!


She's not so sure about it... but I'm sure she will love it! Look at how much space there is!

Happy Hallowe'en!!!

We were due to go to a party... but unfortunately it was canceled at the last moment due to an unforeseen injury of Vero's brother... poor guy! So we took the party on the road and found some more fun!

Soy una gatita (I'm a kitty cat)


A crazy Mexican and two scary vampires!


Daddy and the gatita

The whole gang!


Meaow!


The vampires decorated Sienna's carrito

If you've ever had a cat or a dog...

You simply must read this entry from Super_AP: wogging at its blorst I laughed so hard. I think we should all petition him to write more cat entries! Simply briliant.

It's Hallowe'en and here in Spain its not the most widely observed day... but with so many foreigners there are always some fun things going on... we shall head out with Roy and his twinnies and of course our little miss... She won't of course quite get what s going on but it should make for some fun photos for the blog...

In this last week all her activities such as CONSTANTLY crawling and climbing she seems to have burned off some puppy fat... I think she is really enjoying exploring the house and trying to drive her parents nuts by touching anything that is possibly dangerous... amazing how they just seem to gravitate towards what they are not allowed to touch...


Chillin' being all independant with her bad self in the hall.

Nursery's Bugaboo and lots and lots of chilly rain

Things have been quite busy here in casa Barcelona lately. We had a lovely visit with Joey just last weekend which helped Sienna refine her love of shopping. She is now touching everything as you go by... Just like her great grandma!

Fredu returned from his work excursion to the south late on Sunday night and there was one very happy camper who awoke to find her daddy had returned... actually the dog was of course VERY happy to see him return too. I sometimes thinks she gets depressed when he's not here as I am a much stronger pack leader (thanks Cesar Milan) than him...

The wee one has finally gotten a place within the nursery near our house. She is booked in to start on Monday. It is going to be much harder for us to let her go than it is for her to be left but we'll work it out I'm sure. She's going to be in good hands with the fransican nuns who run the joint just a few doors down from our house. Now I just need to get cracking on getting back to work and we're all set! It will feel very strange next week having her no here as I will be at home and she will not! I guess I will get a lot of life admin sorted and gym and paint and such so all good and hopefully sooner than not be back working.

Our Bugaboo pram is having some problems with the big round white button that adjusts the seating position. As we got it second hand the warranty has expired... we had the sneaking suspicion that it would cost us a fortune to fix... I wrote an email to Bugaboo Spain and I kid you not they rang me the very next day and have told me they will ship me a replacement part free of charge! I'm absolutely astounded. What fantastic customer service. I'm so interested to see if these new parts really do fix it! Well even if they don't their customer service here is very good!

The rain and grey weather continues here and its darn cold let me tell you! We are all kitted out in our best winter gear already. We need an urgent trip to Ikea to buy a rug as some little people who are now crawling around like crazy are having issues with cold bums!

Maria and the Douglas clan are heading off to Cuba this Friday afternoon. Theyve certainly got the right idea. We shall be with them in spirit... Mojito anyone?

Crisis vs Crunch... an example of how language is so important

Things often get lost in translation but often times information is manipulated by language as well. When Andrea who is of course from London was here she was referring to the current world economical situation as the "Credit Crunch" which I found very interesting as here in Spain it's been labeled an ''Economic Crisis". Its all very well spun by the political leaders of each country. No doubt I'm missing a lot of fundamental understandings of how economies work, but I think its pretty safe to say that they way your leader refers to the current situation shows a lot about who they really are. I wonder what senor Bush refers to it as?

The rain came down in buckets this morning. Poor Lilli may never forgive me for subjecting her to the indecency of having to *gasp* walk in the rain... Sienna was snug in her plastic bubble that protects her pram and she quite honestly enjoyed watching the rain dribble down the plastic that surrounded her...

I'm hoping that Joey doesn't read by blog before she jets off to visit us tomorrow night. I've made her some red velvet cake for her Birthday which was a month ago but hey... any excuse right? I wonder if it will last over night in my fridge. I've instructed Eric to come by to collect his tonight to lower the risk of me eating the one I made for him!

What the devil does it all mean?

I've been having these re-occuring dreams lately and in them surfing is the main subject. I seem to find myself in places with huge waves. The kind like they have in Hawaii... big and blue but surprisingly friendly. The thing is, that I have never surfed before in my life... nor have I been anywhere where surfing of this kind takes place. I am not scared or anxious in the dream just excited to get out there... but in these dreams I have not yet managed to actually get out to surf them. Last night just as I was about to get in and give it a go the surf all of a sudden subsided like a wave pool that you would find in a water park being shut off?

Apparently the dreams don't mean much... I looked up surfing and waves and apparently this is what they represent...

Surfing

To dream that you are surfing, indicates the ups and downs of some emotional situation or relationship. You may feel overwhelmed. One minute you can be in control of your emotions and the next minute you are not.



Waves

To see clear, calm waves in your dream, signifies a calming of emotions. It may also signal an important decision to be made.

To hear waves crashing in your dream, indicates tenderness and relaxation. It also brings about feelings of sensuality and sexuality.

To be honest I'm pretty disapointed as if these dreams are supposed to be about emotions I mean d'huh isn't that what all dreams are about? I'm just going to go back to dreaming about birds that turn into lizards like I had before...

We had...

A lovely weekend with miss Andrea who came to visit. We chatted, had cocktails, jogged, dined, shopped (well she did) and had an all around fab time. It was such a treat to have her here especially since I've been feeling pretty low lately.


Andrea made sure to gansta-ize my baby... it was pretty funny. I'm hoping child services don't haul me up for this...


Her and I sipping wine after her 6k jog and my 4k jog (she's got more beans than I do) much shopping for her ensued.


A civilized shot of ladies that drink wine before lunch (but after jogging so that's okay right?) Sienna stuck with her milk of course.

I done didded a new painting

yup I did


My name is Sadie... like my curves?

My mum has been very busy...

clicking her fabulous knitting needles. Her latest creation was a commissioned piece for Sienna in the form of a flopy knitted hat to match the ones her daddy wears. The commission was so successful that it was snapped up by Isabella! Mum apparently has several new orders for more now... if you want one for your wee one send me a mail and I shall add you to the waiting list! We will hopefully have a clearer pic soon but consider this the pre-relase!


Isabella modeling the prototype

Forget my last posting...

If some parties don't want to be grandparents we can't force them... its their loss... Sienna's too of course but hey, she has a heck of a lot of love around anyway so she is well looked after. I guess I need to take all the bad energy and somehow distill it into good energy and maybe that might help the job search. I am just so anxious and excited to get back to working to get things rolling her financially again I can just taste it... it is however very difficult to muster up enthusiasm every day to keep hunting:)

Turkey day for the Cannucks in my family came and went, but because our phone as also decided to pack it in, we were not able to speak with them and take part by-proxy in the celebrations. Ne mind really as I hear mash and turkey don't bide so well when squeezed down phone lines...

The humidity here is approxing insanity. We were sweating buckets today on the way across town to return the dead DVD/TDT... I swear it must have got to near 30 Celsius today at its peack (including humidex although they don't really do that add-on here)... I tell you, with my summer wardrobe tucked away nicely its very likely that the nice weather has something to do with me!

Its probably one of the worst feelings in the world...

You know when you are frustrated upset angry and disappointed all wrapped up into one? Like that feeling when you're young and this person you like is supposed to call you and you wait and wait and the phone never rings and your brain and your heart wants to explode? Kind of like that. I was really hoping that simply going to bed would be the solution and I would wake up and be past it all... no such luck... Yes, its better today but still the uglies are simmering just under the surface. I guess I'm more angry now than anything but hey, such is life right? You can't control other people to make them do what you want no matter how much its bothering you.

Our TDT/DVD decided to explode this morning just before the Dog Whisperer came on. This did not help my mood much. I can't even imagine that we still have the receipt or the waranty for the darn thing. Damn it. Perhaps I should just try the whole going back to bed thing and see if that helps... oh wait, that is just not an option these days is it? Grumble grumble. Did I mention that it was grey and cold outside too? Quite fitting no?

A tiny snapshot of sightseeing for the weekend...


Sienna and pops and the emblematic Barcelona Lichtenstein statue

Not that we were actually sightseeing... but we took a touristic photo this Friday on our way back from dropping off our mountain of paper work to the Agencia Tributaria... The final battle to receive the 2500 baby bonus we are supposed to have received drudges onwards... this time it goes to the courts so lets just hope they are more sympathetic to our mountains of proof that I have indeed live, worked and paid taxes here for the last two years... I swear to God that if one day they actually agree to give it to us I may just fall over from shock. But back to the picture... it was so beautiful here on Friday that some of us were wearing their sundresses... while others sweated away with too many clothes on.

Lilli and I went for an evening jog in the park again last night. I just love the endorphins you get from running but I am just really rubbish at it. I think its all to do with mental focus... perhaps the million and one worries swriling around in my head don't help with that...

We were told to exect a long awaited visits from the inlaws this weekend who incidently have yet to meet their first grand child... I know I know (we all have different families) but its mid-afternoon and we've not heard a peep from them yet... They were struggling to find non insanely expensive flights from Paris at the last minute... not something that is very easy I must say... Barcelona is a very popular weekend destination for Northern Europeans as its usally sunny and at least 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the North and not so wet... thus its allure. And oh yes it is indeed a beautiful city and retail runs at approx 30% cheaper than the pound... but that was a while ago, I have no idea what the exchange is like now in these crazy times... It will be a pleasure to meet them finally when they do arrive, however now its not looking so likely that it will be today or this weekend. Disapointing is I guess the only way you can name it...

Winnings!

Mum has been on a bit of a winning streak lately. Sadly not the lotto but still she can't complain. She won a hundred dollars in flight voucher from a westjet online competition she had entered and then she won a thousand dollar gift basket from ebay via a competition she entered in Chatelaine magazine (its a Canadian monthly woman's mag). I guess all that rubbing of the Buddha's belly in her front hall is producing winnings this year instead of grandchildren. We're all very anxious to see what goodies arrive in the gift basket. I laughed with her as we discussed how that now she would no longer need to do xmas shopping, she could just dish out her winnings. That being said, you know that is exactly what she would do even if xmas wasn't quickly approaching. She is such a saint.

Things on this side of the pond plod on and the sun has been shining and we've been blessed with a bit of autumnal warmpth to keep our spirits up. The job hunt continues but we've been lucky to have some positive interviews in the last little while which is nice... nothing concrete but still nice to find something that would be great to get... time will tell!

I cleaned and organized the flat today for a good four hours today ... Fredu took the girls out this morning so I could indluge in my cleaning frenzy. I feel soooooo much better when things are in order... especially so when you live in such a tiny space. Now if I could only get the dog the baby and the boy to understand this concept...

Sureshee sent Sienna some fab pressies the other day. One of them is a little mobile phone which speaks in English and Spanish. Its so cute. What a sweet surprise to see it arrive one morning last week... I know she's only 8 months but we're sure enjoying playing with it... that's what is all about right? She's happy to just eat it... oh yes and he also sent a key chain that she can chew on that jingles when you shake it. Oh and a tiny pooh bear. We heart unkie Suresheeee!

Exciting news...

From my friend Joanna today who just had her second scan and now knows she's having a girl. I'm so pleased for her as I think she really wanted one!

Time is marching on at a hurried pace and before you know it, it will be xmas again. Time is also running out on our final appeal for the 2500 euro baby bonus that we are STILL fighting for... I honestly pretty much have given up as they just won't budge... they are still convinced that I have not lived here for 2 years prior to Sienna's birth... Even though I have so much documentation to prove that I have... they are being really really difficult about it. I'm sure its just part of the whole fiscal frugality that is surely in place during these hard times. Needless to say, we would be VERY greatful for this but as now it looks unlikely I'm trying to come to terms with it. Sigh... sometimes the good guys loose.

Life goes on and yea you've got to see the good things right? Miss S is now crawling (well sort of as she drags one leg behind kind of but she's moving alright and at a great pace!) and she is standing and pulling herself up as often as she can which means a lot of bumps an bruises for her as she finds her balance and then looses it....


New trick... one of many.

Lilli and I have been jogging in the park in the evenings lately... people look at me strangely jogging next to a small dog but what they don't know is that she is quite the little runner and often is the one urging me to pick up the pace... Its a feable attempt at draining her energy so she is not so hyper... its a tough task. Lets hope at least my fitness levels will increase and we can both make some progress...

Wee one is changing so quickly and in some pictures you can really start to see her looking like me... but in other she looks sooooooooo much like Alfredo. I swear if you look at these pics you would think they were two different babies!?!?!


Looking quite like mum!?!?!?


More like dad?!?!

Good things happen in threes...

Based on this principle then we've had lots of bad things in multiples of threes too so surely we can hope for the same with good things yes?

We received two really sweet packages today for wee Sea... some cool english/spanish speaking toys from Sureshee and a lovely CD from Jackie. Very nice indeed.

The third good thing I'm not going to talk about because I don't want to jinx it... then it would become a bad thing and that is not a good thing. Ha!

I may find it kind of hard to walk or type for the next few days with my fingers and toes all crossed like they are right now....

Its Friday!!!!!!!!!

And its Fredu and Joey's birthdays today... in the goofy spirit of the festivities Sienna brings you her inspired pose of the day:

We are a long long way away from Yankee Doodle Land...

but much to my surprise I've been noticing lately a lot of presidential paraphernalia floating about the 'cuidad comptal'. I really have to admit staring down the people wearing the hats and shirts... All supporting Obama of course... not that I know much about American politics but I can't quite envision McCain supporters travelling to a city so far far away... The thing that astounds me most is quite honestly the garrish design of said hats and T shirts. I mean I think that's why I always find myself turning around to catch more of a look when i see someone sporting one walk by. The hats and T shirts are black and have huge text and I swear they've taken a design sheet straight from the Wrestling federation styleguide. I swear to god one of the T-shirts I saw this large bellied gentleman wearing featured a huge portrait of Obama on it... words can not describe... I really had the impression when I first saw one that someone was wearing one to be ironic but with further inspection of the wearer's footwear it was quickly confirmed that he was indeed American and that, yes - he wanted to be wearing it to show his support. I don't get it. Fashion is not an option people - and don't forget please that it is an obligation - regardless if its politics or not. I checked the Obama site to see if I could find the examples that I've seen but sadly they don't seem to be part of the 'official obama merchandise'... sigh... however I did find this little jem... I'm sure Sienna would just love to wear it!



*steps down off soap box*

Now who says I'm not political?