Haven’t I been a lousy blogger so say!? No updates, not a word from me for months! I feel a little explanation is in order to tell you what happened.

Well In May, me and Revka started talking and planning various projects so we got a bit busy doing that. Then I was blessed with a trip to Sweden. After not seeing my family for five years God finally opened the doors for me so I was able to go with little Choriço. It was a fantastic moment and we had a wonderful time. We stayed for six weeks and would have liked to stay longer if it hadn’t been for the fact that we missed dear Daddy here at home. And of course I had to go back home as I had clients waiting for me.

I was quite busy during my trip, my mom has had two strokes and there was a lot that needed to be done as she doesn’t have any help. So unfortunately I didn’t take long walks along the seashore as planned to, but I’m not complaining, it was nice to hear the seagulls ad see them floating around.

Choriço also learned a lot of Swedish which I of course am thrilled about. Now I only need to keep it up, which isn’t easy I have to admit.

Since I came back I have had a lot of work and have restructured many things for my business. I have become a lot more focused and I have seen a big increase in productivity which is great.

And now? I am back, busy busy but focused. You’ll see a lot more of me here now! At least that is my plan

One of the reasons I love living in Brazil is just because of the weather. The warm climate suits me perfectly!

But not in the winter.

In the winter it is cold.  Cold.  Cold. Did I say cold enough times? Once more?:  Cold.

If there had only been snow and really warm clothes to buy I guess that would have been OK.

But no snow, and it is hard to find really good warm clothes that don’t cost you a fortune. The cold came slowly about two weeks ago and yesterday it rained all day and today it is freezing!  I had to go into town today to pay some bills so I also took the opportunity to go to my favorite shop and see if they had any new warm clothes that would suit my critical taste. And they had imported clothes. Doesn’t that just say something about the clothes quality here?

Maybe it ’s just me, but I prefer European clothes in both styles and fabric. Finding anything with cotton here is difficult and more expensive, in Europe it’s normal and not necessarily more expensive. Well I managed to find a wonderful knitted imported cardigan and will now stay warm.

Now I just need to swap the flip flops for something warmer….

I knew it would happen, I just knew.

Even before I got to bed I could feel it, that familiar feeling that wouldn’t let me sleep at night. Even though I knew it would happen I tried to fool myself and went to bed like I wasn’t feeling anything at all. I laid there for a while, squeezing my pillow, tossing and turning.

It was the thinking that was keeping me awake. The planning. This is an old friend of mine and he’s got me in his grip only that this time I felt it wouldn’t be the same. I felt it was time for a change. As I was lying there I kept thinking to myself “what time is it?” “Can I put on the computer to write just a little bit? Just a tiny little bit?” Of course I kept saying to myself to stop being so silly and go back to sleep.

It was impossible and before I could stop myself my body had risen and I was up in the living room. It was 11.45 pm, or 23,46 it you will. I could hear the neighbor’s dogs barking and before turning on the lights I hide myself behind the curtain looking at why they were barking. The cautious side of me told me to not turn on the light until I was sure they weren’t barking at someone on the street. There was no one on the street but a few dogs who were strolling around outside my gate to try and impress one of my female dogs “Jade”. This little experience served to know not to let her out or their will be little puppies here soon and we do not want that to happen.

I finally turned on the lights and did what I’ve done a dozen times, took out a pen and paper and started jotting down my ideas. I was thinking to myself how this could be different as I’ve done this a dozen times to no result, but I continued and after an hour I had three A4 full of ideas and plans. And this time I did something I’ve never done before: I put it up beside my desk as a reminder of what I need to do and want to do. It’s not only about what I need to do, it’s about what I want to do.

Oh what plans do you wonder? Just the usual thousands ideas of blogging and business… I am very good at brainstorming I can tell you! Need someone to brainstorm ideas with I can probably help you a long way.lol
And today I feel so good, I decided not to start writing after I had made my plans, but instead go to sleep. I fell asleep like a baby and slept the whole night without trouble. OWnderful feeling.

If you are struggling with something my advice is to pray about it and wait for the answer. If you are not the praying type, and not everyone is, then sit still for some time and think through what to do. Allow yourself the time it takes to form the plans and decisions you need to make. It can take a long time, but it will be worth it.

I like Sundays. It is the longest day of the week for me even though I find it pass by really quickly. It is the day when I go to the farmers market in the morning and enjoy buying vegetables for the week. It is the day when we splash out on a nice breakfast and eat “coxinha“. It is the day when I feel I have peace to work on my things instead of others. And it is also the day when I am very domestic.

If you come by my house now you will find lots of clothes hanging to dry outside. Most of it has been washed in our lovely little washing machine that I am lucky to have and some have been washed by hand. I don’t really want all my clothes turning blue because of son’s school uniform so that was a necessity really although I  strongly dislike washing by hand.

My mother in law loves washing clothes. And I mean really loves, she does it every day! When we first moved here she did quite a lot of washing for me and even came to my house to take clothes when I was working. That was when I worked outside of home so I only found out afterward. I had to tell her to stop eventually as it drove me nuts not to know where the clothes were, if they were clean or not. But I love my MIL, she is a wonderful person really.

Sunday is also church day, I try to go every Sunday although some I stay at home with my non church going husband.

For me Sundays is the day I do all those things around the house that I should have done during the week but that got left behind. I am trying to make myself go and iron that pile of clothes that has been sitting on the kitchen table for some time now…

Somehow self persuasion doesn’t work so well…